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"Facts" have been under attack for awhile now and it's getting more relentless every day.  Some of it is motivated by evil intention:  "If you tell a lie long enough . . .".  Some of it comes from the allure of relativity:  "my observation creates reality."  It's getting to the point where I cling to  2+2 = 4 like Tom Cruise hangs on to the edge of the skyscraper.

The Internet of Us is a new book by Michael Lynch which gets into other ways to topple the facts.  He takes us into a world where we "rarely discover facts, we download or upload them".  (I love it when my companion whips out a smartphone to settle a question. )   Lynch considers that we may actually google ourselves out of our capacity to reason.

Every once in awhile I make myself do the multiplication tables in my head.  Up to 10.  The rest of the time?  Of course, it's the calculator.

The Darkest Dance

Sex and War -- we cannot live without it.  Those who chanted "Make Love Not War" understood how to change the balance, but so far no takers.  So now we have the excellent film "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot." (Don't be put off by the unfortunate title.)

The is the story of a woman's adventures as a journalist in Afghanistan, just as we were getting tired of that war and had already moved on to Iraq.  It is about the addiction to action that grips many war correspondents.  And, about the addiction to ratings that grip our TV networks.  Sexual abandon and sexual taboo move the plot.

Back in Hollywood, woman are demanding more opportunities while the suits are counting the change from Star Wars.  Maybe Tina Fey can tip the scales just a little.  She was the woman who saved us from Sarah Palin so she deserves a chance.

Wounded

Quentin Young died the other day.  Chicagoans paused to praise his extraordinary life. He was our hometown -- and national --  health care hero.  When fighting for a National Health Plan, he would always say:"Everyone in, nobody out."

Young took care of Martin Luther King when he was hit with rocks during the Marquette Park march.  Young was "doctoring" in Grant Park in 1968 when war protesters were attacked by the police during the 1968 Democratic Convention.  Historians called it the "Police Riot" during the "Battle of Chicago."

And now, I'm still here to witness a "Trump Riot" at the UIC Arena and out on the streets.  It's only a block or two away from where Quentin Young served as the head of Cook County Hospital.

 Another round of messing with our fragile city.  Our city already exploding in gun fire and constant death.

I don't know if there were any wounded last night, but if so, I hope some young doctor ran over from the hospital with some bandages -- and courage to be in the middle of it all.

In the Cards?

Why do people cheat?  I haven't been tempted very often. I think that's because, when it comes to competition, I'm a bit of a wimp.  I'm not determined to be NO. 1.  And, I'm uncomfortable around those types when they do show up.  Most often for me they show up at the Bridge table.

No smiles.  No banter.   Often arguing with their partner about how they played the previous hand. Quick to recite the rules.  Challenge every score.  Cheaters?  Most often, definitely not.  But if your looking . . .

Content with my mediocre game, I finally found a place to play.  Most of the time my partner and I land in the middle.  Sometimes, when the better players are away, we reach the top.  Fine with me.

There is an article in this week's New Yorker about cheating in the stratosphere of the international game. There is so much "security" at this level that Bridge players actually bid behind a screen!    This is creepy.  Even those scary Poker players limit their camouflage to hoodies and sunglasses.

Are Bridge players morally inferior? Bridge is supposed to be a 'thinking man's" game.  If the "thinking" extends to "how will I not get caught," we are dealing with more than the cards here.

Bridges to Cross

Mark Rylance won an Oscar for his supporting role as the Russian spy in Bridge of Spies.  I was rooting for Rocky one more time, but am intrigued by Rylance's selection.  It is hard to portray a philosophy onscreen,  but that's what I believe Rylance did so effectively.  This was the embodiment of stoicism.  There's a lot to think about here.

When his character repeats at moments of crisis: "What good would it do?", Tom Hanks, (the "good guy") reacts the way many of us would -- with a look of "Don't you care?"  That's what makes stoicism so challenging.  How much do we dare to stay engaged?

Realism and idealism exist simultaneously in the spy's character.  What could be more idealistic than to sacrifice family and the familiar and to live in an "enemy" country doing life-threatening work?  And what could be more realistic than to accept your fate every step of the way.

Is the spy's demeanor one of realism or despair?  Which is appropriate?  Neither?  Both?

Like I said, lots to think about here.

P.S.  Rocky was stoic too.  In a very endearing way.

Political Scandal

There's some serious girl power going on in the latest episodes of SCANDAL.  I swore I was going to leave the show for good if one more dead body showed up, but I'm intrigued enough to put that aside now and see where this season goes.

Shondra Rhimes is reading the papers or maybe even "feeling the Bern."  The champaign by the Pennsylvania candidate was taken right from Bernie's education stump speech.  The show is going to do something with this fictional Bernie stand-in, I'm sure.

TV and politics are the conjoined twins of 2016.  Oh Ben, you could really serve your country if you would use your scalpel here.

Messing with Destiny

My writer friend Rex and I joke about how an author can feel as if one of his characters has taken on a "life of his own" and leads the plot in an unforeseen direction.  "Who'se in charge here?" we chuckle.
This time, I wish the character Sid Halley would tell the author Felix Francis to "Bug off and leave me alone!"

Some of you know that my favorite books are the Dick Francis mystery series taking place in the milieu of British horse racing.  I have learned much from Francis' heros and try to emulate their qualities in my life.  Sid Halley is one of my favorites.

He is a famous and beloved jockey whose hand (and career) is shattered and left useless in a fall on the track.  What emerges is a character who must leave "all of it" behind, including a wife who never understood his devotion to danger.  Alone and crippled, his stories begin.

Dick Francis died a few years ago and his son Felix took over the writing.  Felix's books are okay but only as an echo.   Now, in what I think must be some father/son pathology, Felix is giving Sid a hand transplant!  He is making him whole.  Shame!

Should the phantom get a new face?  What about the "one-armed man?'  Is Nero Wolfe going to have by-pass surgery?

Or, am I being selfish to want Sid to continue to triumph (as he always does) using the empathy he develops to such an endearing degree because of his imperfect self.