Her is an excerpt from a free newslrtter I am subscribed to:
(The site name is “Popular Information.”)
To better understand Trump’s enduring appeal, Popular Information spoke with Abraham Josephine Riesman, author of Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America. Why talk to the biographer of a wrestling executive to understand Trump? McMahon is one of Trump’s closest associates and, Riesman reports, one of the few people whose calls Trump takes in private. McMahon, who inducted Trump into the WWE Hall of Fame, could be serving as something of a role model to Trump right now. How many other people beat federal felony charges in court, weathered multiple sex scandals (so far), and emerged wealthier and more powerful?
Perhaps more importantly, McMahon is the creator of neo-kayfabe, the blending of fact and fiction — and good and evil — until it is all impossible to distinguish. McMahon himself became the most popular character on WWE shows, assuming the character of the arch-villain Mr. McMahon. There is now little distinction between McMahon and his WWE persona.
In his book, Riesman makes the case that Trump’s political strategy is shaped directly and indirectly by McMahon. “For more than three decades, Trump has watched and admired Vince’s product,” Riesman writes. “He has been both host and performer at many of Vince’s wrestling extravaganzas, honing his abilities as a rabble-rouser. Through Trump, Vince’s wrestling-infused mentality has reached the highest levels of the American system.”
Popular Information spoke to Riesman about what McMahon and WWE wrestling can teach us about Trump’s continued popularity, his response to federal indictments, and whether Trump believes his lies about the 2020 election. The interview was edited for length and clarity.
On how some people on the left misunderstand Trump’s appeal:
What we have with Trump is a guy who a lot of people on the left misunderstand as being just loved by the people who vote for him. And I think the feeling is not just, “Oh, Trump is good and strong and loves people and is a good Christian.” Very often, people will approach Trump in the way that they approach what they call in wrestling a “tweener.” Somebody who’s not exactly good or not exactly evil, where they go, “Yeah, I don’t approve of all of his methods or the things he says, but he’s cool, and he gets the job done.” I think thinking in terms of face [a “good guy” in wrestling] and heel [a “bad guy” in wrestling] for Trump is too binary, because it’s too much in the old way of doing things. The old kayfabe, not the neo-kayfabe. Trump is not perceived just as a good guy or a bad guy.
On the wrestler who is most similar to Trump:
Stone Cold Steve Austin is the person who, more than anyone else, altered the way the wrestling public uses their protagonists. Because Steve Austin was billed as a heel. He was introduced as a bad guy. And they were pushing him hard as a bad guy. But the crowd was seeing all these evil acts and just eating them up. They were obsessed, and cheering for this horrible character who was doing awful things. And that’s a real sea change for wrestling that, and then it ends up being a sea change for the culture.
On how WWE primed a generation for Trump:
You can’t deny that millennial boys grew up watching Stone Cold Steve Austin, and then the Rock and Triple H, and all these other people in that mold. These are people who are not quite face, not quite heel, but beloved by the crowd, despite their evil acts. Millennial boys shaped their whole worldviews when they’re 11 to 15 around that sense of morality. Not: Is it good, or is it evil? Just: Is it exciting? Is it cool? That’s what the premium is placed on. And that’s true now in politics, too. Maybe it’s always been true in politics to a certain extent. But right now, the thing that grabs people to vote is very often just: Do I find this person entertaining, recognizable, iconic, or funny? As opposed to: Will this person do a good job in the elected office that I’m voting for them for? And wrestling turned that into a science.
On how Trump, like McMahon, is popular because of — not in spite of — his transgressions:
Trump is very good at pressing buttons, as Vince is. They’re very good at finding the parts of your brain that make you the most riled up and just mashing that button, just making you as amped up, or angry, or both, as you can be. He throws out these transgressive pieces of red meat. And if you’re on his team, that’s very exciting for you, if you’re not on his team, it’s also very exciting for you, but in a negative way. The point is, you’re excited, and you’re paying attention to him. And that’s a great strategy for him. And people really enjoy it. Like they don’t want to admit it, and it’s not a good thing that they enjoy it. But the human brain is what it is, and it likes when people break the rules. Even if you wouldn’t break the rule, there’s something titillating about seeing somebody who has no regard for the rules. All of these [WWE] characters are so ludicrously transgressive, and that appeals to people. And that transgression can come in the form of saying something horrifying that you don’t agree with as a viewer, or it can come in the form of that same character saying something totally true that you do agree with, but you can’t believe was said in public.
On how Trump fans, like modern wrestling fans, understand that most things Trump says aren’t real:
This ecosystem allows people to do horrible things and still succeed, even among people who are offended by the things that are being done and said. Because you operate from the assumption that everything you’re seeing in the ring is fake, or at least most of it. And that’s dangerous, because once you’re assuming everything’s fake, except for the things you want to believe are true, then you’re just having a grab bag, personalized reality. So you can go, if you’re a Trump voter, “Trump means it when he says [X], but he doesn’t mean it when he says [Y].” And once you start just picking and choosing what you think reality is from a grab bag of truth and lies that you can’t distinguish between, then you’re in real trouble as a society. Every individual person is just picking their own hodgepodge reality.
The neo-kayfabe mindset is, “take it seriously, but not literally.” Take the excitement as something that is a force to be reckoned with, but don’t actually believe any of the content. That’s wrestling. You’re gonna have a thrill, but don’t actually believe anything that’s happening, except for the whispered part, which is, except believe the parts that you want to believe, those parts are true. And then people can just completely lose their minds.
On whether Trump believes his own lies about the 2020 election:
The biggest thing I want people to take away from the book is that it does not matter. What is in his heart and what he believes is much less important than what he does and what the material effects of those things are. And when it comes to Trump, you can lose many years of your life trying to figure out what’s going on inside that head, inside his skull, inside his brain. But the ultimate big question is what is to be done about the material harm being caused, as opposed to this academic parlor chatter about does he really believe the election was stolen? Or is he making it up? The reason that that’s not a relevant question is not only because there are more important things, but also because I don’t think that’s a distinction that exists for Trump
On how Vince McMahon might advise Trump to respond to criminal charges:
The best strategy that Vince ever comes up with in any given situation is to mess with the heads of the public. Mess what their minds. This is what Trump is best at, and Vince is even better at. It’s messing with reality, acting ostentatiously, and saying things you’re not supposed to say to such a degree, that, ultimately, the masses are just sort of baffled, and paying attention to you. This is something that I try to get at in the book is, when you have a viewer, or a reader, a surfer of the web, whatever, who is baffled about whether the thing they’re looking at is real or not, or where the boundaries of reality and fiction are, that they start paying really close attention to what they’re looking at, because they’re so confused. I think Vince’s advice generally would be so ridiculous or be so real, or both, that people are confused enough about the news that they disengage and go, “I don’t care.”
@charontwo: That is excellent. A valuable insight into modern politics And as you say, very much in line with Hannah Arendt’s “believe everything and nothing”. And a good companion piece to Jame’s post on Biden’s messaging problems.
As a ray of hope, pro wrestling is very popular, with a smallish segment of the public.
On how some people on the left misunderstand Trump’s appeal:
I’m suddenly reminded of Trump’s verbal tick of saying something to the effect of “what everyone’s just finding out” when talking about something that was common knowledge but which he only just figured out.
The Left has known this for a long time. It’s a certain segment of the establishment Center that seems to keep being surprised by this.
On this 9/11 let’s never forget the innocents that gave their lives.
And let’s also never forget that;
That Trump’s immediate reaction was that his building was now the tallest (it wasn’t).
That Trump lied about seeing people dancing in celebration.
That MTG believes a plane did not hit the Pentagon.
That Ramaswamy believes Federal Agents were on the planes that hit the Towers.
That Republicans have consistently tried to deny health care funding for the first responders.
Let’s Never Forget.
A word to the wise: avoid United Airlines if you can, at least for international travel.
I just wasted 12 hours of my life failing to get to Germany, where I was supposed to attend a rather important conference. The “adventure” involved two planes, five gates, taxiing six times, sitting on an un-airconditioned plane full of infants for an hour — twice — offloading back to the terminal twice, walking long distances with my luggage, and being lied to repeatedly by United about the nature and likely duration of delays. During which time I was served two cups of water and a bag of pretzels. Oh, and technical faults on both planes serious enough to prevent or delay takeoff. The final insult was that we were on the runway ready to take off (7 hours late) when the Captain announced that the crew had exceeded their shift duration limits and so we weren’t going anywhere. Please walk the entire length of terminal C to talk to customer service about what you can do next.
The final insult was that we were on the runway ready to take off (7 hours late) when the Captain announced that the crew had exceeded their shift duration limits and so we weren’t going anywhere.
I remember waiting in Atlanta to board a couple of hours late. Watched the crew walk off. Told my wife that’s it, we are not getting out. And Delta just lied about it. By commission and omission. They know the status of their crews. And the replacement crews. Infuriating.
(BMW) is preparing to invest more than $750 million in its Mini plant in the UK to ready the site for full EV production by 2030.
I haven’t been following closely, but this is the first major new(ish) investment in the UK I’ve heard about since Brexit. Might the tides be turning? Or is the BMW situation just unique?
I had a successful day cooking this weekend. I made beef patties with mushroom gravy, a side of balsamic onions, and a decent mix of rice, barley, and buckwheat (it’s not real wheat). I’d never made gravy before.
I also decided to get a cast iron pan. I cooked the beef dish in the cast iron pot (better browning than non-stick pans). It worked well enough, but it would have been far easier with a wider base and lower sides.
On related matters, I’m reading The Poison Squad by Deborah Blum. It’s largely about what it took to pass the Pure Food and Drug Act, centered mostly on the work of Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, a chemist at the Dept. of Agriculture.
The problems were the adulteration of food, and the preservatives used in many foods. The latter are not necessarily bad, but at the period covered (late XIX to early XX centuries) these were not tested for safety.
So, in addition to milk diluted with water and enriched with chalk, you could also get preservatives containing formaldehyde. Borax was another popular component. These were not safe at all.
You’ll find a lot of familiar arguments, too. Like Wiley’s insistence in testing preservatives, not adulterating food, and even listing ingredients in the label, were seen as an attack on business. This also illustrates the fallacy proposed by libertarians and other small government advocates, that business doesn’t need regulation to provide safe and unadulterated food and drink, because it’s against their interests to poison their customers.
Well, it turns out long term health issues and a few dead customers per year do not damage the food producers interests much.
If the flight was direct to Germany, an EU country, you should check whether you can collect on a claim of the EU261 regulation. You were certainly delayed more than four hours due to issues under the airline’s control (ie not weather or ATC strike).
It applies to flights on US carriers from Europe to the US, but I’m not sure whether it applies from the US to Europe.
@DrDaveT: My biggest complaint is that the planes are more uncomfortable than other airlines. I don’t understand why they should be, but they are. I’m flying United to Seoul early tomorrow. I’d have liked to fly someone else, but Expedia and the other online ticketing places failed me in that the next less expensive flight was $300 more. 🙁
All airlines pretty much use seats of the same dimensions in economy, with one important exception. Two things do vary. The obvious is leg room, a function of how closely the seats are packed together. The other is how thick the seats are.
The latest fashion are slimline seats. These have thinner backs, and allow airlines to reduce pitch (the distance between seats) without reducing leg room to the same degree. They’re also cheaper and lighter. Of course, they have less padding and are less comfortable.
The important exception is seat density per row. Mainline narrow bodies, which means A320 or B737 in their variants, are fixed at 6 abreast, 3-3, in economy. Wide bodies can vary. For example, at nine abreast in a 787, the seats will be narrower than 9 abreast in a 777 or A350, as the latter two have a wider fuselage. But lately some airlines have narrowed seats on the 777 and A350 to fit ten abreast, 3-4-3. Such seats would be a bit narrower than those on a 787.
And Delta just lied about it. By commission and omission. They know the status of their crews. And the replacement crews. Infuriating.
For extra spice, the reason we missed the crew limit cutoff was that there was no cleaning crew available for the replacement plane, even though they knew when and where it was going to land HOURS IN ADVANCE. They wasted 3 hours between when that plane was empty and when they began to clean it. Yes, I know that they also needed to coordinate with gate availability at the destination, but we could have waited on the tarmac for a gate in Germany in the worst case.
I will say, it’s the first time I’ve ever been on a commercial flight crawling with repairmen while all of the passengers were still onboard…
On related matters, I’m reading The Poison Squad by Deborah Blum. It’s largely about what it took to pass the Pure Food and Drug Act, centered mostly on the work of Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, a chemist at the Dept. of Agriculture.
I laughed out loud at this. Harvey Wiley was a hero of my father (the biochemist) and his name became a joke catchphrase in our house. Any time anybody didn’t know the answer to a “Who did ___?” question, the reply would be “Harvey Washington Wiley.”
But lately some airlines have narrowed seats on the 777 and A350 to fit ten abreast, 3-4-3.
That would describe both of the planes that United attempted to use for my flight. And yes, in my 10-across row the seats were both narrow and poorly padded. With no leg room even for a short guy like me.
It would have been $1800 one way to upgrade to business. Next time I’m doing it; even if the flight never gets off the ground they can at least ply me with liquor in the meantime.
All this flying talk. I did over 400,000 Flight miles in a span of little over 5 years between 1996 and 2002. Lots of time on Northwest Airlines and taking trips on DC-10s, 747s, DC-9s, and 727s. I was a Platinum Frequent Flyer.
@DrDaveT:
One of the very best things about having risen from poverty to scraping the bottom of the 1% is flying Business Class. On long haul flights it’s a different world from coach. The lie flat beds are narrow and an inch short for me (6’2″) but you are completely horizontal. I avoid US carriers even then, sticking mostly to BA. In addition to the beds they have excellent lounges at Heathrow. Granted Emirates is better, but I don’t want another stopover in Dubai. (Although they have a gorgeous lounge there with mediocre booze and appalling food.)
Best things about having money:
1) A car that actually starts.
2) Business class flights.
3) Junior suites not rooms.
4) The impossible-to-fake swagger and entitled attitude that comes from knowing that your American Express card will always go through.
5) Hardcovers and Audibles.
Have a good trip to Seoul. Eat plenty of Seoul food!
I spent parts of 4 days, Dec 1-4 in Seoul and part of my stay was at the Lotte Hotel where they kept trying to feed me Salisbury Steak.
That’s true. I was there because of a coup attempt in Manila Philippines and me and at least 50-75 other passengers were stuck up at the Lotte hoping Northwest Airlines would be able to soon get us to our destination. NW paid for my room and food. Long story.
One of the very best things about having risen from poverty to scraping the bottom of the 1% is flying Business Class. On long haul flights it’s a different world from coach.
Agree completely, and on my personal vacation overseas travel I now do that routinely. And I also avoid US carriers when I can; the difference in quality is shocking. My last Air France flight featured a three-course meal where the appetizer was excellently prepared foie gras, and the wine and cognac were ones I stock in my own cellar. The service was attentive without being either intrusive or ingratiating. KLM and Lufthansa were nearly as good, and my memories of Virgin Atlantic also excellent (though that was quite a while ago). About the only place United or Delta can measure up is that their beds lie equally flat.
Interesting. Northwest once provided me with a hotel room and a first-class ticket back to Boston after the flight and cabin crews walked off the original plane at the Minneapolis airport.
@Bill Jempty: NW booked you into the most Western of all the Western Chain hotels in Seoul. I suspect that it was either part of a contract deal NW had with someone or another or the attempt to make an innocuous choice with a (possibly) more comfortable than average room.
ETA: And yes, I know Lotte isn’t Western corporation (Lotte actually started in Japan and moved to Korea).
I’m old enough to remember when flying was a fun part of the trip.
I remember that, too.
Part of the reason was regulation of fares and routes. Pretty much both were set by the Civil Aeronautics Board. One criterion for fares was that airlines would be profitable. They were, even with rather low load factors compared to today (say around 75%). So there was no need to cram a lot of seats into an airplane.
They could also not compete on fares. They competed in service instead, even as fares came down with the advent of coach, and larger aircraft like the 747.
Things didn’t change all at once. As I recall, deregulation happened in 1980. Service and amenities did not diminish largely until the late 90s. And we didn’t get the big airlines copying the worst aspects of the low cost models until after massive consolidation, and after the 2007-8 Great Recession.
Another great thing during regulated fares, was that you could pretty much change airlines on the same route. I recall we did that once when we had tickets from Houston to Mexico City on Pan Am, but changed them to return a day later on Texas International.
NW booked you into the most Western of all the Western Chain hotels in Seoul. I suspect that it was either part of a contract deal NW had with someone or another or the attempt to make an innocuous choice with a (possibly) more comfortable than average room.
The hotel was nice and very comfortable. One thing I don’t forget- Women in traditional Korean outfits by the elevator. Smiling at the guests.
IN one of my ebooks I had my main character stay at the Lotte.
I’ve stayed at the Peninsula in Hong Kong and The Dorchester in London. The Lotte don’t come close to those two. Few Hotels do.
The White House has said it was expecting a meeting between the two leaders this month as Moscow looks to its ally from the Soviet era to help it rearm for its war in Ukraine.
[…]
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency has reported that Kim’s train has up to 20 bulletproof carriages and has a top speed of about 37 mph. It is painted drab green and is rarely photographed. The train was used by Kim’s father and grandfather, both of whom were leaders of North Korea.
The report suggests that NK weapon technology is advanced by comparison to its transportation tech. I would guess so.
Millennial boys shaped their whole worldviews when they’re 11 to 15 around that sense of morality. Not: Is it good, or is it evil? Just: Is it exciting? Is it cool? That’s what the premium is placed on. And that’s true now in politics, too.
I subscribe to Judd Legum and read this today. I’d buy this argument if Trump were inordinately popular with millennial boys compared to other demos. But the core of Trump’s support is older Americans, men and women. Did they grow up on WWE? Trump lost millennial male voters badly. (Unless you erase the existence of nonwhite voters as many pundits love to do, writing things like “The working class supports Republicans” when they really mean “Hillary and Biden both won the working class vote by 10-point landslides; white blue collar voters preferred Trump.”)
Also, I think Legum maybe misreads the left here just as he said the left misunderstands Trump voters. I don’t think liberals are under any illusions about Trump fans wanting to see him hurt and punish people they don’t like. Liberals know this is central to his appeal.
I had the notion the inner width of the 777 cabin was the same as that of the 747. the latter has been 10 abreast for decades.
I was wrong. The 747 is about 23 centimeters wider, just a bit over nine inches. This doesn’t seem like much of a difference, but it turns out it is. The seats on the 3-4-3 777 would be somewhat narrower than those on the 747.
The report suggests that NK weapon technology is advanced by comparison to its transportation tech. I would guess so.
I expect some weapons tech is better, like the missiles. But it sounds like North Korea’s primary value to Putin is manufacturing capacity for dumb artillery rounds to Russian standards (e.g. 152mm v NATO 155). Of course Ukraine has a lot of legacy Russian pattern equipment and would love to buy that ammunition themselves.
I wonder what color unicorn he’ll want with that. I mean, may as well ask for two impossible things as for one, right?
The Guardian already has a piece about it. I find the premise faulty, as, at the very worst, Judge Chutkan might believe Benito guilty of a crime he wasn’t charged with in the case pending before her court.
Further, the portions of the opinions quoted do not say what the judge believes concerning Benito’s manifest guilt or innocence.
We go back to the old legal principle: if neither the facts nor the law are on your side, make a lot of noise and throw s*it around. Benito’s not just good at this tactic, he loves it.
Not simultaneously, mind you. Separate incidents several hours apart.
The pinkie thing happened because my right hand assumed a thing that wasn’t true and reached out aggressively into what I thought was empty space and hit a handrail in my basement. I broke the tip bone. The outer phalange. It bent radically backwards and the nail is cracked halfway down. Underneath is black/purple now.
I didn’t actively dislocate my jaw, my jawbone just decided it didn’t really want to be attached to the face part of my skull anymore on the right side for awhile and decided to wander off alone with no forewarning while I was chewing on pasta. Pop!
That hurt a lot! Like a lot a lot. After seven or eight excruciating seconds it decided to go back home and settled back into its socket without my direct input or manipulation beyond using the left side hinge to open my mouth wider as a reflex. Pop!
It was less than 10 seconds, but crikey that hurt. A lot!
Second time on spontaneous jaw dislocation. Last time was 2 years or so back when I was yawning.
And way better the pinkie finger over the pinkie toe. Pinkie toe is 50 times worse, easily. One night in the early aughts I was walking towards the bathroom via my dead dark living room and banged it into the coffee table leg. The toe ended up roughly 60 degrees off normal center.
I sucked it up and taped it back to next toe. Getting it back to normal alignment was very memorable and bracing experience. Very, very bracing! I shuffled around like a Lon Chaney mummy for several weeks.
My treatment plan tonight is a couple of aspirin and an adult beverage or two. Maybe three.
@charontwo: On how some people on the left misunderstand Trump’s appeal:
I’m sorry, I don’t and never will get the appeal of a fat, weak, over hyped, pansy, lying sack of shit, big mouthed, WATB, snowflake who never saw a fight he couldn’t pay a lawyer to fight for him. What am I missing?
General Flynn lives in Englewood FL, about 10 miles from me here in south Sarasota County. I just got an email invitation,
You are invited to a fun night with General Flynn, Jim Brewer, Roger Stone, DC Draino, Forgiato Blow and friends.
One night only – General Flynn live on stage with patriotic musicians, comedians, key note speakers and more!
General admission $50.
@MarkedMan:
The government has give a pretty big sweetener; last thing they need running into the next election is BMW pulling the pug on Cowley.
But also, with Johnson and Truss gone, and Sunak being pragmatist (a right winger, but a sane one) and a likelihood of a ten year majority Labour government, shot of the Corbynites, at the next election, a dozen years of sanity in UK government look a reasonable bet for business.
A pragmatic alignment with EU rule to allow supply chains to recover looks certain. By a second Labour term, I’d bet on membership of the Single market in all but name being well underway.
After that, the political pendulum swing becomes more likely, so it will be crucial whether the Conservaties have or have not been taken over by the nutcases.
And, if the latter, if their support has collapsed in the country.
Her is an excerpt from a free newslrtter I am subscribed to:
(The site name is “Popular Information.”)
You can buy Riesman’s book, Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America, from an independent bookseller “https://bookshop.org/p/books/ringmaster-vince-mcmahon-and-the-unmaking-of-america-abraham-riesman/1856634”
This appears similar to the usual authoritarian/Fascist tactic of confusing people about what is real and what is false.
@charontwo: That is excellent. A valuable insight into modern politics And as you say, very much in line with Hannah Arendt’s “believe everything and nothing”. And a good companion piece to Jame’s post on Biden’s messaging problems.
As a ray of hope, pro wrestling is very popular, with a smallish segment of the public.
@charontwo:
I’m suddenly reminded of Trump’s verbal tick of saying something to the effect of “what everyone’s just finding out” when talking about something that was common knowledge but which he only just figured out.
The Left has known this for a long time. It’s a certain segment of the establishment Center that seems to keep being surprised by this.
On this 9/11 let’s never forget the innocents that gave their lives.
And let’s also never forget that;
That Trump’s immediate reaction was that his building was now the tallest (it wasn’t).
That Trump lied about seeing people dancing in celebration.
That MTG believes a plane did not hit the Pentagon.
That Ramaswamy believes Federal Agents were on the planes that hit the Towers.
That Republicans have consistently tried to deny health care funding for the first responders.
Let’s Never Forget.
A word to the wise: avoid United Airlines if you can, at least for international travel.
I just wasted 12 hours of my life failing to get to Germany, where I was supposed to attend a rather important conference. The “adventure” involved two planes, five gates, taxiing six times, sitting on an un-airconditioned plane full of infants for an hour — twice — offloading back to the terminal twice, walking long distances with my luggage, and being lied to repeatedly by United about the nature and likely duration of delays. During which time I was served two cups of water and a bag of pretzels. Oh, and technical faults on both planes serious enough to prevent or delay takeoff. The final insult was that we were on the runway ready to take off (7 hours late) when the Captain announced that the crew had exceeded their shift duration limits and so we weren’t going anywhere. Please walk the entire length of terminal C to talk to customer service about what you can do next.
Words fail.
@DrDaveT:
I remember waiting in Atlanta to board a couple of hours late. Watched the crew walk off. Told my wife that’s it, we are not getting out. And Delta just lied about it. By commission and omission. They know the status of their crews. And the replacement crews. Infuriating.
Brexit factoid:
I haven’t been following closely, but this is the first major new(ish) investment in the UK I’ve heard about since Brexit. Might the tides be turning? Or is the BMW situation just unique?
I had a successful day cooking this weekend. I made beef patties with mushroom gravy, a side of balsamic onions, and a decent mix of rice, barley, and buckwheat (it’s not real wheat). I’d never made gravy before.
I also decided to get a cast iron pan. I cooked the beef dish in the cast iron pot (better browning than non-stick pans). It worked well enough, but it would have been far easier with a wider base and lower sides.
On related matters, I’m reading The Poison Squad by Deborah Blum. It’s largely about what it took to pass the Pure Food and Drug Act, centered mostly on the work of Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, a chemist at the Dept. of Agriculture.
The problems were the adulteration of food, and the preservatives used in many foods. The latter are not necessarily bad, but at the period covered (late XIX to early XX centuries) these were not tested for safety.
So, in addition to milk diluted with water and enriched with chalk, you could also get preservatives containing formaldehyde. Borax was another popular component. These were not safe at all.
You’ll find a lot of familiar arguments, too. Like Wiley’s insistence in testing preservatives, not adulterating food, and even listing ingredients in the label, were seen as an attack on business. This also illustrates the fallacy proposed by libertarians and other small government advocates, that business doesn’t need regulation to provide safe and unadulterated food and drink, because it’s against their interests to poison their customers.
Well, it turns out long term health issues and a few dead customers per year do not damage the food producers interests much.
@DrDaveT:
If the flight was direct to Germany, an EU country, you should check whether you can collect on a claim of the EU261 regulation. You were certainly delayed more than four hours due to issues under the airline’s control (ie not weather or ATC strike).
It applies to flights on US carriers from Europe to the US, but I’m not sure whether it applies from the US to Europe.
@DrDaveT: My biggest complaint is that the planes are more uncomfortable than other airlines. I don’t understand why they should be, but they are. I’m flying United to Seoul early tomorrow. I’d have liked to fly someone else, but Expedia and the other online ticketing places failed me in that the next less expensive flight was $300 more. 🙁
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
All airlines pretty much use seats of the same dimensions in economy, with one important exception. Two things do vary. The obvious is leg room, a function of how closely the seats are packed together. The other is how thick the seats are.
The latest fashion are slimline seats. These have thinner backs, and allow airlines to reduce pitch (the distance between seats) without reducing leg room to the same degree. They’re also cheaper and lighter. Of course, they have less padding and are less comfortable.
The important exception is seat density per row. Mainline narrow bodies, which means A320 or B737 in their variants, are fixed at 6 abreast, 3-3, in economy. Wide bodies can vary. For example, at nine abreast in a 787, the seats will be narrower than 9 abreast in a 777 or A350, as the latter two have a wider fuselage. But lately some airlines have narrowed seats on the 777 and A350 to fit ten abreast, 3-4-3. Such seats would be a bit narrower than those on a 787.
How did that double post happen? Please delete.
@Scott:
For extra spice, the reason we missed the crew limit cutoff was that there was no cleaning crew available for the replacement plane, even though they knew when and where it was going to land HOURS IN ADVANCE. They wasted 3 hours between when that plane was empty and when they began to clean it. Yes, I know that they also needed to coordinate with gate availability at the destination, but we could have waited on the tarmac for a gate in Germany in the worst case.
I will say, it’s the first time I’ve ever been on a commercial flight crawling with repairmen while all of the passengers were still onboard…
@Kathy:
I laughed out loud at this. Harvey Wiley was a hero of my father (the biochemist) and his name became a joke catchphrase in our house. Any time anybody didn’t know the answer to a “Who did ___?” question, the reply would be “Harvey Washington Wiley.”
@Kathy:
That would describe both of the planes that United attempted to use for my flight. And yes, in my 10-across row the seats were both narrow and poorly padded. With no leg room even for a short guy like me.
It would have been $1800 one way to upgrade to business. Next time I’m doing it; even if the flight never gets off the ground they can at least ply me with liquor in the meantime.
@DrDaveT: @Scott: @Just nutha ignint cracker: @Kathy:
I’m old enough to remember when flying was a fun part of the trip.
Cracker: Have a good trip to Seoul. Eat plenty of Seoul food!
All this flying talk. I did over 400,000 Flight miles in a span of little over 5 years between 1996 and 2002. Lots of time on Northwest Airlines and taking trips on DC-10s, 747s, DC-9s, and 727s. I was a Platinum Frequent Flyer.
@DrDaveT:
One of the very best things about having risen from poverty to scraping the bottom of the 1% is flying Business Class. On long haul flights it’s a different world from coach. The lie flat beds are narrow and an inch short for me (6’2″) but you are completely horizontal. I avoid US carriers even then, sticking mostly to BA. In addition to the beds they have excellent lounges at Heathrow. Granted Emirates is better, but I don’t want another stopover in Dubai. (Although they have a gorgeous lounge there with mediocre booze and appalling food.)
Best things about having money:
1) A car that actually starts.
2) Business class flights.
3) Junior suites not rooms.
4) The impossible-to-fake swagger and entitled attitude that comes from knowing that your American Express card will always go through.
5) Hardcovers and Audibles.
That’s really about it.
@CSK:
I spent parts of 4 days, Dec 1-4 in Seoul and part of my stay was at the Lotte Hotel where they kept trying to feed me Salisbury Steak.
That’s true. I was there because of a coup attempt in Manila Philippines and me and at least 50-75 other passengers were stuck up at the Lotte hoping Northwest Airlines would be able to soon get us to our destination. NW paid for my room and food. Long story.
@Michael Reynolds:
Agree completely, and on my personal vacation overseas travel I now do that routinely. And I also avoid US carriers when I can; the difference in quality is shocking. My last Air France flight featured a three-course meal where the appetizer was excellently prepared foie gras, and the wine and cognac were ones I stock in my own cellar. The service was attentive without being either intrusive or ingratiating. KLM and Lufthansa were nearly as good, and my memories of Virgin Atlantic also excellent (though that was quite a while ago). About the only place United or Delta can measure up is that their beds lie equally flat.
@CSK: Thanks! I always enjoy going to Korea.
@Bill Jempty:
Interesting. Northwest once provided me with a hotel room and a first-class ticket back to Boston after the flight and cabin crews walked off the original plane at the Minneapolis airport.
@Bill Jempty: NW booked you into the most Western of all the Western Chain hotels in Seoul. I suspect that it was either part of a contract deal NW had with someone or another or the attempt to make an innocuous choice with a (possibly) more comfortable than average room.
ETA: And yes, I know Lotte isn’t Western corporation (Lotte actually started in Japan and moved to Korea).
@CSK:
I remember that, too.
Part of the reason was regulation of fares and routes. Pretty much both were set by the Civil Aeronautics Board. One criterion for fares was that airlines would be profitable. They were, even with rather low load factors compared to today (say around 75%). So there was no need to cram a lot of seats into an airplane.
They could also not compete on fares. They competed in service instead, even as fares came down with the advent of coach, and larger aircraft like the 747.
Things didn’t change all at once. As I recall, deregulation happened in 1980. Service and amenities did not diminish largely until the late 90s. And we didn’t get the big airlines copying the worst aspects of the low cost models until after massive consolidation, and after the 2007-8 Great Recession.
Another great thing during regulated fares, was that you could pretty much change airlines on the same route. I recall we did that once when we had tickets from Houston to Mexico City on Pan Am, but changed them to return a day later on Texas International.
@Michael Reynolds: 6) Not worrying about how you’d be able to handle a car problem, or a household emergency, or a lost phone.
Trump has requested that Judge Chutkan recuse herself.
@Bill Jempty:
The hotel was nice and very comfortable. One thing I don’t forget- Women in traditional Korean outfits by the elevator. Smiling at the guests.
IN one of my ebooks I had my main character stay at the Lotte.
I’ve stayed at the Peninsula in Hong Kong and The Dorchester in London. The Lotte don’t come close to those two. Few Hotels do.
Kim Jong-eun is (eventually) coming to Vladivostok for a meeting with Putin.
The report suggests that NK weapon technology is advanced by comparison to its transportation tech. I would guess so.
@charontwo:
I subscribe to Judd Legum and read this today. I’d buy this argument if Trump were inordinately popular with millennial boys compared to other demos. But the core of Trump’s support is older Americans, men and women. Did they grow up on WWE? Trump lost millennial male voters badly. (Unless you erase the existence of nonwhite voters as many pundits love to do, writing things like “The working class supports Republicans” when they really mean “Hillary and Biden both won the working class vote by 10-point landslides; white blue collar voters preferred Trump.”)
Also, I think Legum maybe misreads the left here just as he said the left misunderstands Trump voters. I don’t think liberals are under any illusions about Trump fans wanting to see him hurt and punish people they don’t like. Liberals know this is central to his appeal.
@DrDaveT:
I had the notion the inner width of the 777 cabin was the same as that of the 747. the latter has been 10 abreast for decades.
I was wrong. The 747 is about 23 centimeters wider, just a bit over nine inches. This doesn’t seem like much of a difference, but it turns out it is. The seats on the 3-4-3 777 would be somewhat narrower than those on the 747.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
I expect some weapons tech is better, like the missiles. But it sounds like North Korea’s primary value to Putin is manufacturing capacity for dumb artillery rounds to Russian standards (e.g. 152mm v NATO 155). Of course Ukraine has a lot of legacy Russian pattern equipment and would love to buy that ammunition themselves.
@CSK:
I wonder what color unicorn he’ll want with that. I mean, may as well ask for two impossible things as for one, right?
The Guardian already has a piece about it. I find the premise faulty, as, at the very worst, Judge Chutkan might believe Benito guilty of a crime he wasn’t charged with in the case pending before her court.
Further, the portions of the opinions quoted do not say what the judge believes concerning Benito’s manifest guilt or innocence.
We go back to the old legal principle: if neither the facts nor the law are on your side, make a lot of noise and throw s*it around. Benito’s not just good at this tactic, he loves it.
Today I:
1. Broke my pinkie finger
2. Dislocated my jaw
Not simultaneously, mind you. Separate incidents several hours apart.
The pinkie thing happened because my right hand assumed a thing that wasn’t true and reached out aggressively into what I thought was empty space and hit a handrail in my basement. I broke the tip bone. The outer phalange. It bent radically backwards and the nail is cracked halfway down. Underneath is black/purple now.
I didn’t actively dislocate my jaw, my jawbone just decided it didn’t really want to be attached to the face part of my skull anymore on the right side for awhile and decided to wander off alone with no forewarning while I was chewing on pasta. Pop!
That hurt a lot! Like a lot a lot. After seven or eight excruciating seconds it decided to go back home and settled back into its socket without my direct input or manipulation beyond using the left side hinge to open my mouth wider as a reflex. Pop!
It was less than 10 seconds, but crikey that hurt. A lot!
Second time on spontaneous jaw dislocation. Last time was 2 years or so back when I was yawning.
And way better the pinkie finger over the pinkie toe. Pinkie toe is 50 times worse, easily. One night in the early aughts I was walking towards the bathroom via my dead dark living room and banged it into the coffee table leg. The toe ended up roughly 60 degrees off normal center.
I sucked it up and taped it back to next toe. Getting it back to normal alignment was very memorable and bracing experience. Very, very bracing! I shuffled around like a Lon Chaney mummy for several weeks.
My treatment plan tonight is a couple of aspirin and an adult beverage or two. Maybe three.
I’m sorry, I don’t and never will get the appeal of a fat, weak, over hyped, pansy, lying sack of shit, big mouthed, WATB, snowflake who never saw a fight he couldn’t pay a lawyer to fight for him. What am I missing?
General Flynn lives in Englewood FL, about 10 miles from me here in south Sarasota County. I just got an email invitation,
Holy gawd.
@gVOR10:
Mike Flynn?? Ruger Stone?? I am so there.
@MarkedMan:
The government has give a pretty big sweetener; last thing they need running into the next election is BMW pulling the pug on Cowley.
But also, with Johnson and Truss gone, and Sunak being pragmatist (a right winger, but a sane one) and a likelihood of a ten year majority Labour government, shot of the Corbynites, at the next election, a dozen years of sanity in UK government look a reasonable bet for business.
A pragmatic alignment with EU rule to allow supply chains to recover looks certain. By a second Labour term, I’d bet on membership of the Single market in all but name being well underway.
After that, the political pendulum swing becomes more likely, so it will be crucial whether the Conservaties have or have not been taken over by the nutcases.
And, if the latter, if their support has collapsed in the country.