Cheer Up, Chaps

The “then to now” timescape which James says connects us with Hopper’s 1942 ‘Nighthawks’ painting includes the details that one of the men in that iconic late night diner, Mr Then, is sitting at the counter smoking a cigarette and the other man, Mr Now, is looking at the smartphone in his hand.

Clarification (or retraction) - I've read some material about the Spanish euthanasia case I briefly mentioned. The situation does not seem to be what I described. More later.,

Welcome back James. We missed your mellifluous dulcet commentary. However, no more time off!

I agree with Charles that there is little more annoying that a know nothing ( not the political party) young person spouting off on politics without the faintest idea of the issues. They are convinced that all opinions are of equal value, even those informed by study.

So I've heard Steve's joke about man on the moon and income tax for years.

But it only just occurred to me that, in large part, the income tax funded the space race. At the time, the top income tax rate was actually 70 percent.

Given how long Steve has been telling that joke, this is probably not the first time he's heard that response...

Charles talked about people going to classic car shows and concluding that all of the cars from the fifties were so beautiful, not considering that only the most appealing cars were preserved, and that the plain and ugly ones died decades ago. I've heard the same sort of thing regarding old houses. "Look at these beautiful century-plus-old houses. They were so grand, not like these cheap little houses built in the 1970s and '80s." Obviously, some of the mansions were preserved and maintained, while all of the small, cheap houses were allowed to rot and fall over. The average family in 1840 did not live in a mansion.