Good Morning. Hello. How are you? #1586
Drop-off redemption, USS Liberty Conspiracy theories, Sugar Reunion, this broccoli is amazing
Good morning, good morning, Sgt. Numbfinger here, reporting for duty. The wounds have mostly visually healed. Finger is still numb. Wonder if I will ever feel anything again with that poor finger. All because of a speck of glass the size of a grain of dust. Woe is me.
School dropoff this morning: arrived at 7:09, our regular early-arriving pals had, unlike yesterday, decided to already start lining up, despite what that mean woman told me yesterday. Yesterday, I was the only one to line up. But today, they all did. They were unaware of what she told me. AND: when I relayed this whole story to Emma yesterday, she said she had read the newsletter, and it mentioned Chorus and early arrivers, but it did not say to not line up.
SO: not only was it after 7:10 when this woman scolded me for not reading a newsletter and lining up before 7:10, she made up the rule entirely.
I salute my brethren who, today, fought against this tyranny. Real leaders, White Mini Van, Superman Car and Red Bronco Sport.
(Superman car is a bright blue Corolla with a Superman logo plate in the front plate holder. Big hit with the kids).
(“Early-arriving” is an interesting exception to the “no hyphen with -ly words.)
(Excuse me just adding some guests to the Somerville apartment calendar…)
Righty-O what do we have in the list today I tried to add some topics to the list so I wasn’t flying as blind as yesterday. Though my questions about young dudes’ interest sparked some interesting discussion. The Slack group has good insights into, like, 15-20 year old dudes but 20-30 seems like a blind spot to everyone. Slack blurb!
Join the GMHHAY slack! Reply to this email and ask for an invite if you’re a human who likes chatting with other humans about topics such as these within!
We are listening to a band today called Mourning [A] BLKstar, because some stranger on Bluesky said they were better than Sault even though Sault gets all the attention. After repeated listens to this single album, The Cycle, I do not share this view, though I like this album very much. I listened to another sort of Nu Black Soul kinda band yesterday called KIRBY and I liked them a lot, they had a bit more of Sault’s “interest in the interior mind of the modern black adult” whereas this Mourning… band is a bit more… apolitical? Smooth? Hard to distinguish. It’s solid, though.
Also, I had never heard of D’Angelo, and my friends mocked me for it and I spent a good several hours listening to that dude yesterday and his hits were fine but man his later work fucking ruled. Real talent, wish I knew him better.
Give a listen to every band you ever see mentioned.
Sugar is re-uniting. Only two shows announced so far, and I have not yet listened to the new music — it is on today’s agenda. But I am excited. I’ve seen Bob solo many times, all the way back to the single loudest show I have ever seen, Bob Mould on the Black Sheets of Rain tour in 1990 my god that was so loud. Saw Sugar once, Avalon, 92. They were fucking awesome. I am excited. I think I like early Bob solo more, though, so that’ll be interesting. Can you play “See a little light” too plz k thnx.
Can I tell you about my broccoli? Last week I bought this broccoli at the Teet and my god it is so good. It is still good, it hasn’t even started to go bad, it is still firm and tasty AF. It might be the best broccoli I have ever had, both from a taste perspective and a longevity perspective and, mind you, I routinely grow my own (very very good) broccoli. This broccoli fucking rules.
Now, I know. Grocery stores: 1) go to disgusting lengths to lengthen the fresh time of their produce (thank you Liz O. for your recommendation of the fantastic Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr). And I know 2) that this broccoli is probably an unnatural abomination of genetic engineering or whatever the fuck.
But my god it is so good.
You know that Parks and Recreation episode where there is a burger cook-off between Ron and Rob Lowe whatever, and Rob makes this delicious gourmet turkey burger and it is amazing but Ron just makes a shitty regular burger and it blows it away? yeah.
My god, this broccoli. I want some right now.
Will I ever have it again? Who knows. Store-bought broccoli (or, really, any vegetable) is secretly one of ten or so different strains delivered to you depending on the season and geography of where the particular farm is that is supplying you this month. It’s a crap shoot.
I might just dream about it forever.
(I miss reading books like that: weird forays into obscure parts of our society like concrete or roads or grocery stores. Been stuck in fantasy-land too long).
(Today is parenthetical day here at GMHHAY.)
(Note the varying correct usage of periods.)
Got a Google alert this morning from my Robert Caro Google Alert and it was this guy’s blog (not gonna link to it for reasons we’ll get to) where he goes on and on about how LBJ was evil (I mean, yes) and Caro, in his magisterial four-parts (so far) biography of LBJ, didn’t get to the whole story (I mean he is not done but yes) and how LBJ intentionally had the Israeli’s attack a US Naval NSA vessel so he could start World War III and… distract Americans from his shitty poll numbers. (Wow that was a long-ass sentence. Run-on? I don’t think so?) Or something.
It was very Conspiracy Theory-ish but also, I mean, how had I not heard of the Israeli’s attacking a US vessel, even accidentally? They have, in fact. It was the USS Liberty. And several things here:
1) Our modern information environment makes learning about something like this super difficult and shitty.
2) Buuuuut….The Wikipedia page makes very very clear that the official story is pretty dubious. And they are still, ironically, pretty trustworthy. (Aside: this recent article in The Verge about Wikipedia is great).
3) So, okay, something happened. But from the Wikipedia page you can tell also that this has become a trope for antisemites and right wing nut jobs.
4) Which makes this kind of an interesting sort of conspiracy theory: one that interacts with both old and new misinformation environments. Like we have shit like, you know, “The Election was Rigged,” modern disinformation that is wrapped up in MAGA, and we have shit like the JFK assassination, which is only barely, not really, wrapped up in MAGA. But this one is kind of both. Which makes it uniquely impossible to learn anything about, I guess.
5) Lotta people seem to think Israel did this on purpose at their own behest (the official version is LBJ asked them to): Maybe to rope us into the six-days war (there is evidence LBJ was ready to bomb Cairo immediately following this incident) or to keep the NSA vessel from reporting on troop movements indicating an imminent Golan Heights invasion.
6) But the true conspiracy heads think LBJ was behind this, not the Israelis. And you know what? That guy sucked! He did all sorts of weird-ass, amoral, creepy, shitty things.
And Caro has not really gotten to this part of his presidency yet! And Caro uncovered some horrific shit! It is entirely possible Caro will confirm the worst of the conspiracy theories.
My god I want that book to come out some day. Ina better fuckin edit and release what he’s got done if he dies before its out.
I also think I need to re-read part four. Lotta stuff is hazy about it now. Not the important bits, but I would like a refresher. Maybe I’ll re-read it the day they announce part five.
Oh shit do I have a new Jane anecdote for you? What has happened in the last 12 hours? She did gymnatiscs, did great. Even if every week I now have to remind her to go into the actual gym because she gets distracted by the Lincoln Logs in their playroom. Lincoln Logs! So old school. Takes me back. She was pretty good yesterday, actually. We are in day four of a game where if you snap your fingers she will come and hug and kiss you and it is the best and it will not last forever but man, it rules.
Also she wore my band t-shirt to school yesterday (thank you, Annie) and my god does that make me one proud papa.
Yesterday Emma and I learned about Diane Warren, one of the most successful pre Max-Martin songwriters out there. Just astonishing all the shit she wrote. Blew us away. And now you can be blown away too. This is just a small sampling: Behold:
Have a lovely day you be careful out there okay don’t accidentally get butthurt into Fascism like Bari or anything.
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Thanks for reading.
And hey! Maybe buy one of my books!
Good Morning, Hello, How Are You vol 1.