And it’s about time, too. The last OF was unusually spare, and this has been a lively, if ugly seven days since.
Elucidate and illuminate!
[Notes on that clip: 1. The “Howdy Doody Time” theme was sung to the melody of “Ta-ra-ra-Boom-dee-ay,” one of many traditional American songs that kids used to be taught and now never are. I was going to write a musical revue containing songs like that (“There’ll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight” and “Hail, Hail, the Gang’s All Here!” among others) for my old theater company, but for various reasons it never happened. They are all infinitely superior to “Imagine.” 2. You’ve heard that voice singing the creepy Rice Crispies march. before. Who is it, and what famous song did he sing?]
Ethics Alarms 
Is the Rice Krispies singer Thurl Ravencroft, of “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch” and Tony the Tiger fame (which I know is just scratching the surface)?
It is indeed! What an amazing voice he had! Good job!
You’re a bad banana with a (chord chord) greasy black peeeeeeeeeelll!
I immediately recognized T.R. too and love his voice.
Well, I’m a little biased since I have a fairly deep baritone-to-bass-one singing voice and my impression of Thurle’s voice is flawless.
He also did a lot of work for Disneyland and can be heard several times in the Haunted Mansion.
–Dwayne
The Ethical “Emotional Support” Animal Owner.
https://www.wcvb.com/article/it-was-a-misunderstanding-man-talks-about-support-alligator-being-denied-at-baseball-game/45422622
People are outraged that a guy tried to bring an alligator to a Phillies (and/or angry the Phillies denied him entry).
Guy explains he didn’t bring the alligator as a spectator, but as an invited guest of the team. He owned a trained alligator, and brought it as entertainment to various places. He never intended to bring it to the game, and didn’t fault security when there was a mix up at security, and they denied him entry for bringing an alligator to the stadium.
Surely Babylon Bee material. I wonder if the alligator rode in the front seat of the pickup all the way from Harrisburg to Philly and back.
The night before last, I attended the opening recital of the winter season sponsored by the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music in Tucson. Checking my calendar, I thought, “Uh oh. It’s a performance by a group known as ‘The Jerusalem Quartet.’ I wonder what effect the horrors in Israel will have on the show, good or bad.”
As near as I can tell, the members are four Israelis, resident in Jerusalem, of Russian (or former Soviet satellite) descent. The program included string quartets by Haydn, Brahms and Shostakovich. The players evidently proudly include one Shostakovich in all their programs being, I believe, Russians. As he finished his season opening remarks to the audience before the concert began, the board member of the sponsoring Friends group made, as I feared might happen, a terribly anodyne, garbled comment about ending war or something. Then said, almost as a seeming afterthought, “Instead of the Brahms, there will be a Mendelsohn quartet.” I’d never, ever, seen a last-minute change to a program like that before. Everyone in the audience was mystified.
The players were old school. They did not engage with the audience and said nothing. They came on, played, took the applause, bowed, walked off. They played spectacularly. The highest art. Everything you could ask for in a classical music performance. The pinnacle of Western culture. In a time of hideous savagery.
It wasn’t until the following morning I realized what the program change was about: They wanted to play Mendelsohn because he was JEWISH! What a great statement about western civilization and Jewish civilization’s essential contributions to such a terrific edifice. Brilliant. All the middle east has contributed is shithole countries based on hate, death and destruction for non-Muslims.
The quartet were finishing their 2023 tour and were heading back home. They are in their forties, young enough I wouldn’t be surprised if they are called up for duty in the IDF. From their Wiki page: “Due to the ensemble’s name and their being perceived as cultural ambassadors for Israel, the Jerusalem Quartet has been subject to protests during their performances. In 2010, a performance at London’s Wigmore Hall which was being broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 was disrupted by multiple hecklers. The broadcast had to be halted.”
If I’d been able to figure out what was going on at the time of the announcement of the change in programming, I would have stood up and led the audience in a standing ovation and loud cheering.
https://mises.org/power-market/pentagon-wants-affirm-your-gender-transition-not-if-youre-avoiding-draft
“ Given that the Pentagon has made it clear it is devoted to affirming these life choices among potential recruits, it would be reasonable to assume that the Pentagon rejects the idea that one’s “assigned sex” at birth has any objective meaning at all. After all, truly affirming the transgender ideology requires rejecting the notion that “men are men” or “women are women.”
That assumption would be wrong. When it comes to the military draft—which is presently inactive and called the “selective service program”—the military absolutely insists that “men are men.” In other words, the military wants to make sure no man can get out of the forced military service by claiming to be a woman. Thus, the Selective Service System (SSS) makes it quite clear that “the registration requirement on gender assigned at birth and not on gender identity or on gender reassignment.” In other words, maintaining the interests of the empire trumps transgenderism. ”
Given the increasing likelihood of a new world war, and given the low recruitment numbers for the US military recently, the draft may become relevant soon. I would say it is categorically unethical to pretend to support a political issue solely in order to agitate people for the scoring of political points. If gender identity is real when twerking for toddlers, using taxpayer money to pay for surgeries the taxpayers don’t agree are necessary and forcing women into showers with men pretending to be women, but not real when it would impact the virtue signaling government, then is it real at all? Why does the public have to face the consequences of transgender virtue signaling but the government get to discard any consequences?
Because of that famous rationalization: These Aren’t Ordinary Times.
Or in the Latin – Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges: In times of war, the law is silent.
The latest micro aggression as practiced by my local Food Lion.
During the checkout process, when you’re swiping your card, a screen pops up asking for a donation — I forget now if it was one of four groups or one of four levels of donation, but that’s a minor detail.
When I touch the entry for “No”, the screen clears and a message pops up — Donation cancelled. Trying their best to guilt trip you about not donating to whatever the heck it was.
But no! There never was a donation to be cancelled. I never contemplated giving someone something.
Annoyed the heck out of me every time I saw it — and to me it is certainly unethical.