England and France during the High Middle Ages

by Tom Kando

How many movies have you seen and books have you read about the history and the conflicts raging in England and in France during the High Middle Ages (1000-1400)? I just re-saw the wonderful mini-series Pillars of the Earth - based on Ken Follett’s great novel. Hollywood has produced an endless series of often highly entertaining films about this era - from many makes and remakes of Robin Hood to the movie version of Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe, from many versions of Joan of Arc to excellent films such a the Lion in Winter and Becket, more recent productions such as Braveheart, The Kingdom of Heaven and many more.

My knowledge of English history is limited, that of French history better. I thought I’d try to draw a brief and somewhat coherent picture of one aspect of this era, namely the ceaseless fighting between the English and the French, a narrative which incorporates many of the stories which popular culture has popularized so often.
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The American Tourist in Europe: Still the "Ugly American"?

By Angie Picardo

The ‘ugly American’ stereotype is something that every American is aware of when they travel overseas. Given this self-awareness, is it still true that we are seen that way by the international community? There is some good news for American travelers; we may not be the worst tourists out there. Actually other nations might even see us more favorably than we see ourselves. According to a recent Living Social, poll the harshest critics of American tourists were actually other Americans. I was personally very aware of the ugly American stereotype when I travelled abroad for the first time, and in my conversations with Europeans I found to my surprise that most people were very curious to learn more about me. I have to admit that I was a little surprised by how interested Europeans were in getting to know a little bit more about Americans. Read more...

Euphemisms

by Madeleine Kando

The recent public lynching of Paula Deen over her one-time use of the N-word has motivated me to do some research on euphemisms. As a non-native speaker, I fully appreciate how much spice and color they add to the English language. I absolutely adore them. This is ironic, since the function of euphemisms is to avoid saying something unpleasant, offensive or taboo. So not saying something makes a language richer?

In the case of the N-word, the original word is still around, so we at least know what it means. But some other words have not been that lucky; the euphemism has completely obliterated the original word, killed it outright, knocked it off, rubbed it out, terminated it with extreme prejudice. The word 'bear', for instance is a euphemism for a taboo word denoting a large, dangerous, hairy killer. The original word has been lost forever. Read more...

Paula Deen and the Corporations: I Don't Get It

By Tom Kando

The corporate frenzy to dump Paula Deen has been mesmerizing - and upsetting.

One way to look at the Paula Deen scandal is socio-linguistically: language is culture. Deen used the N word. What meaning she attached to it when she used it, we’ll never know.  African Americans also use the N word sometimes - towards each other, in jest, in rap music, etc. We can assume that the meanings attached to the N word by Paula Deen and by black rappers differ. But I’ll talk about this in my next post. Today, I want to discuss the abhorrent politics of this flap:

I don’t get it. By now, the dumping is almost unanimous. First to go was her show on TV’s Food Network, soon followed by all the big ones - Wal-Mart, Caesar’s, Smithfield Food, Novo Nordisk, Home Depot, Sears, K-Mart, Walgreens, Target, etc. Then, even her publishers (Random House) dropped her, as did Amazon, without whom it’s almost impossible to retail books online. A few obscure, regional companies have yet to join the stampede, but it is, as I said, practically unanimous. Some of her competitors, like chef Anthony Bourdain, are also piling on, no doubt salivating at the prospect of picking up the pieces.
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Atheist Manifesto (Somewhat of a Book Review)

by Madeleine Kando

There must be an enormous amount of people who, like me, don’t really believe in the existence of a person with a long beard sitting on a cloud, passing judgment on everyone. They just don’t go about telling everyone how they feel. The ones that do are the activist atheists, the ones that speak for the rest of us.

Authors like Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins are explicitly FOR atheism, just like I am for animal rights. But their rational, often passionate arguments pale compared to Michel Onfray’s total destruction of religion in his book: ‘Atheist Manifesto: The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam’. Onfray sets out to dissect the Koran, the Bible and the Torah with the precision of a surgical procedure, leaving behind little piles of brittle bones, proving that the bulk of these texts were fabricated, not too different from the fraudulent texts of scoundrels like Joseph Smith. They were written by ‘too many people over too long a period of time’ to be historically correct.

This is not the first book I read about atheism, but it definitely made me stop and think hard about my own views. My thoughts go something like this: Read more...

A Dry Spell

by Madeleine Kando

For a while now, my Muse has been on strike, stubbornly refusing to do her job of inspiring me to write. I go through the motions, poking my brain, trying to stimulate the writing reflex, zilch, nada.

I am sitting at my desk, frustrated, watching the birds go about their much more sensible business of waiting their turn around the birdfeeder, the squirrels madly chasing each other in the grass, their tails jerkily going up and down, trying to keep up with their owners’ frenzied activity.

The alarm on my electronic calendar rudely jars me out of my reverie, reminding me that National Grid is coming by to change our gas meter. I have five minutes to comb my hair, wipe the boogers out of my eyes and put some clothes on. Whoever shows up at this ungodly hour will have to suffer the consequences of morning breath and body odor.

I am in the kitchen making coffee, looking at the clock to see if I have time to go out and check on my newly planted seedlings. I feel a slight irritation brewing as I stir my coffee. My precious morning ritual of stepping into the dew covered garden in my p.j.’s to inspect the new growth has been disrupted. Read more...

Are Beauty Queens Stupid?

By Tom Kando

Like many husbands, I am often made to watch beauty pageants by my wife. The recent spate of hilarious moments has made it worthwhile, not the least because I am a social psychologist. I have been mesmerized by the brain shut-down process that takes place.

For example, on June 16, 2013, Miss Utah embarrassed herself in the Miss USA contest. In 2007, Miss teenage South Carolina’s performance was even more embarrassing. 

We could attribute these laughable moments to the inferiority and shallowness of American culture and education, or we could engage in stereotyping and dismiss these women as dumb bimbos. But that would not be adequate.

I bet you that miss teenage South Carolina has no trouble coming up with the necessary words when she gets into a vicious verbal fight over a boyfriend. I believe that the problem is situational. Answering a question intelligently, ANY question, is within anyone’s grasp, no matter how uneducated about facts one is.
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Should We Abolish The IRS, And The Government As Well?

By Tom Kando

As I said in my previous post, among the explosion of (alleged) Obama administration scandals, the IRS scandal is probably the most damaging. As everyone knows by now, the IRS discriminated against conservatives by raising the bar higher for groups such as the Tea Party when it comes to granting them tax exempt status. This action by some rogue elements of the huge IRS bureaucracy was incredibly stupid. I assume that the White House had nothing to do with it. Furthermore, it’s being blown vastly out of proportion. Rush Limbaugh compared it to the Holocaust!

What is most unfortunate about this scandal is that it feeds the already widespread anti-government frenzy of the past several years. Over the past couple of decades, the American plutocracy has succeeded - with its enormous unfairly acquired wealth - in brainwashing a majority of (white) Americans into a deep-seated conservatism bordering on anarchism. Read more...

How Badly Are Things Going For Obama?

By Tom Kando

I just returned from vacation. Although I did keep up with the news, I refrained from commenting on it. This was healthy, but frustrating. Now, it’s time for me to get back into politics. There is so much bad news. Where do I even begin?

A warning to conservative readers: I am as pro-Obama as ever. Let me just touch upon a few random recent events:

1. June 7: Another mass shooting, this one in Santa Monica: More blood on the hands of the NRA and all those opposed to stricter gun control. Meanwhile, the president’s gun control legislation is going nowhere.

By the way: the murderer was shot dead, as often happens in such cases. But here is my stance on this, as well as on capital punishment: Death - whether it’s suicide-by-cop or the gas chamber later on - is way too soft a punishment. To be sure, whenever the safety of law enforcement and of the public dictates killing the mass murderer, there is no choice. However, it would be better to keep these animals alive. They should be forced to suffer, deprived of freedom, living in a stinking cell for the rest of their days, constantly aware of and confronted by their monstrous actions. That would be true punishment.
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The Dimple Effect

by Madeleine Kando

Have you noticed that the majority of people you see on t.v. have dimples? It makes you wonder if their job application includes a line-item that reads: 'Are you or have you ever been endowed with dimples?'

I don't know what it is about dimples. It certainly draws the attention, like an exclamation mark after a sentence. When I watch an anchor with dimples, I stop listening to what she says, completely caught up in what her dimples are doing. They come and go, grow and vanish, travel up and down. Dimples have a life of their own.

I suppose dimples are endearing, it gives someone a cute appearance, reminiscent of a child. It makes you want to squeeze those cheeks. Actors also are often blessed with this kind of deformity. Yes, it is considered a deformity by the medical profession. It is caused by a split in the zygomaticus major, the muscle that pulls on the corners of your mouth when you smile. Normal people, like you an me have a single zygomaticus, but dimpled people have a zygomaticus in the shape of a catapult. The skin gets pulled in when they smile, like the strap on the catapult. Think of it as making a quilt, make a stitch, pull on the string and voila, a dimple appears. Read more...