Cowards in Coventry

 

   I am writing again about the terrible difficulties students now encounter when they get to the campuses. Although some faculty members, and even more administrators, attempt to ameliorate them, stories appear daily about the fraught situations experienced in the shadows of the ivory towers. Surprisingly these episodes typically don't bother to mention the fears faced by those who suddenly realize they have to take organic chemistry, or know some arithmetic in order to pass the economics exam. The humanities can be hard, as well, it appears and the anxieties requiring action and reduction are widespread and found even in old England.

   The 'horrific' thing about which students needed to be warned, involved the reading of Ivanhoe, which should be undertaken only by those who are brave enough to learn that this work of fiction "contains 'offensive' depictions of black slaves and Arab Muslims captives who are prejudiced against Jews..." The headlines this time are about the University of Warwick, which is much closer to Coventry than Warwick and here are some samples: "University of Warwick Branded 'Cowards" For Putting Trigger Warnings on 'Offensive' Text," and "Warwick University Blasted Over Sir Walter Scott 'Racism' Row". In that article, a descendent of Scott expresses his displeasure:

"But the author’s great-great-great-great grandson, Matthew Maxwell Scott, has hit back at the academics, describing the move as a “coward’s charter”.
He said: “Today, social media and the growth of academia provide new playgrounds for the modern bully. Long-deceased artists are a particular target.”
Mr Maxwell Scott, a trustee of his ancestor’s residence at Abbotsford in Melrose, where the famous novelist died in 1832, said the university’s warning was “disappointing”, adding: “We seem to have lost the ability to appreciate an artistic output as a product of its time."

  The first article listed above is not quite correct. It had already been decided at Warwick that the expression, "Trigger Warning" should be replaced by a "Content Note", since the use of the word "trigger" itself could be alarming because of its relation to guns. It is also the case that the University of Warwick was not responsible for the issuance of the warning, although they were coolly supportive of it:

"A spokesperson for the University of Warwick said: “We believe students should be exposed to challenging ideas, stories and themes through their studies and view it as an essential part of learning and understanding different perspectives. That’s why the university does not ask departments to issue content notice [Trigger Warnings] for course materials.

“However, a small number of departments and academics choose to do so, making their own judgement and rationale for deciding on what guidance they feel may be needed for the coursework they set.

“We fully respect our colleagues right to exercise their academic freedom in this way, but the practice remains rare within the university with less than one per cent of our overall curriculum including any content guidance.”

One is reminded of the recent case I mentioned at USC, where the university chose to put some distance between itself and the School of Social Work which thought it a good idea to eliminate the word "Field" (perplexed? See, "Out in Left Field.") 

   The irony of some wokery did not go unnoticed by someone who re-read Ivanhoe to see what the fuss was about. 

"It is a benefit of wokery that it prompts one to look anew. I was always slightly ashamed that I had never read a novel by Walter Scott. Over Christmas, however, it was reported that Warwick University’s English department had issued trigger warnings to students against ‘offensive’ passages in Ivanhoe about ‘people of colour’ and the attribution to Muslims of anti-Semitic sentiments. I blew the dust off my Victorian edition and read it. Almost needless to say, the warning makes no allowance for the fact that the novel is set in the Middle Ages and fictionalises the attitudes of that time, rather than merely reflecting Scott’s own views. But the much more important point is that the most gripping part of the narrative is its vivid assault on anti-Semitism, personified in the superb character of Rebecca, daughter of the usurer, Isaac of York – sexy, brave, strong yet modest, loving a Gentile (I won’t tell you who), but faithful to her Judaism. I have rarely read a more truly anti-racist novel. Of this, the Warwick woke wardens make no mention."

The Bonus: 

  There is more irony to be found if one looks at the actual syllabus in the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies at Warwick. Here is the "Content Note" ["Trigger Warning"] which is not unreasonable, but unfortunate in that it is required:

Content Note [Trigger Warning]

"Across the texts on this module, you will repeatedly come across (often casual) racist, xenophobic, sexist, classist slurs and attitudes. So too, allusions to potentially disturbing content such as sexual violence, violence (sometimes fatal) to others, suicide, animal cruelty, distressing scenes of death, are common. I want you to feel comfortable in talking to me about this one-on-one or in class. These are integral aspects of many texts and will at times be engaged with as part of our critical discourse."

This next note is the scarier warning:

PLEASE TAKE NOTE:

"The reading load on this module is comparatively heavy. Many of our books are in excess of 500 pages as this reflects the size of many key texts from the period. Although all large novels are split over at least 2 weeks of study, there is also weekly critical reading and the instalment of the serialised text. Students this year have found tactics such as audiobooks in consultation with the written text handy, and have fed back that the load was manageable, but you should think carefully before selecting a number of novel-heavy modules. You will also GREATLY benefit from doing some summer reading if you can."

Sources: 

  Headlines about the Warwick affair are easily found, especially in conservative publications which like to make fun of such things (we all should.) The re-reader of Ivanhoe is Charles Moore and the quotation is from The Spectator, Jan.21, 2023. 

  The incident is also mentioned in this Times article which is worth consulting.

"Plan to Appoint Guardian of Free Speech is Welcome But Government Should Set the Tone of the Debate," Melanie Phillips, Jan. 16. 2023:

"The government is making efforts to tackle the madness of identity politics over race, gender and western colonialism. The crucible of the attempt to coerce conformity with these faddish ideas is the university campus. Students require “safe spaces” from any challenge to these orthodoxies; visiting speakers who oppose this dogma are silenced; and academics run the gauntlet of intimidation and professional ruin if they express a dissenting opinion.

Last year, the government imposed a requirement on higher education providers in England to safeguard free speech as a condition of their funding, with financial penalties if they failed to do so. Now it is about to appoint a “free speech tsar” with the power to investigate universities that censure academics for their views. The leading candidate is Arif Ahmed, a Cambridge philosophy professor who has spoken out strongly against the suppression of academic ideas. 

A new report by the think tank Civitas shows, however, that the rot in the universities goes far wider and deeper than the issue of free speech. Some 62 per cent of universities have issued “trigger warnings” alerting students to material deemed potentially harmful or worrying. “White privilege” has been mentioned by 56 per cent in their online guidance to staff and students, and 70 per cent are either formally committed to decolonisation or have academic staff promoting it.

The Civitas Report referred to is "Free Speech and Decolonisation in British Universities," Dr. Richard Norrie, Oct. 2022. It is found here. It is 20 pages long and here is the "Overview:"

• 70 per cent of UK universities are undertaking some form of decolonisation – either by official university policies/statements or academics within the university advocating for it. 

• There were 374 free speech controversies in UK universities between January 2017 and August 2020 – 123 were related to transgenderism and 14 were related to Islam. 

• Free speech controversies occur more frequently in universities which have official policies/ statements on decolonisation, as well as academic advocates of decolonisation – as too do free speech societies. 

• Free speech controversies tend to accompany transgender-related restrictions on free speech as well as decolonisation. These are considerably more common in ‘better’ universities and – to some degree – in the universities which have low levels of student satisfaction. They also tend to go hand in hand with free speech societies. • The presence of free speech societies in universities tends to be positively and moderately associated with transgender restrictions, decolonisation measures and free speech controversies. They are also more common in better universities. 

• However, correlations are mostly moderate, implying these things can happen at any university.

Sober Hypochondria

 

  I was feeling bad enough about not "staying dry" for even a few days in January when these headlines began pouring from various media sources. You will have seen them as well: "It's Time to Put Cancer Warning Labels on Alcohol, Experts Say;" Canada's New Guidelines For Alcohol Say 'No Amount' Is Healthy;" "Even a Little Alcohol Can Harm Your Health" and "Yes, Even if it's a Bloody Caesar With Extra Celery: Why Even Just a Little Alcohol is a Risk." Sobering news indeed, especially since we would have to be less prideful about having invented the "Bloody Caesar."

  Readers of MM will know that I tend to be contrarian, and many of them are likely to be drinkers, so they will not be surprised if I take the side of the imbibers on this issue, and are likely to be pleased, as well, if they are drinkers themselves. Apart from arguing that, while alcohol may be bad for us, it does make us feel better, I will provide an article that you may have overlooked because of all those others which tended to be on the front page. 

   It would be unfortunate if all of this negative publicity forced the L.C.B.O. stores to return to the establishments they once were, or if we were to lose their magazine. I recall what they were like and a description was recently provided, so I don't have to come up with one:
  "Looking back, I’m struck by how Canada’s approach to alcohol and cigarettes has almost reversed since I was a student back in the late 1970s.
  At that time, I worked part-time in the last of what the Liquor Control Board of Ontario called conventional stores. Back then, the L.C.B.O. took the “control” part of its name seriously. Its older stores did everything possible to make people avoid them. Aside from some dusty display bottles of selected wines, all of the merchandise was hidden away behind a counter. Customers had to search out what they wanted to buy on lists of everything in the store that were behind glass panels, and write down the product’s name, brand number (Mateus rosé was 1086 B) and price. Then shoppers passed their slips to a cashier who, after receiving payment, turned it over to a clerk like me who fetched and bagged the goods.
   I must confess that my colleagues and I were sometimes less than friendly. We were also repeatedly reminded not to give recommendations or advice to customers — they were strictly on their own.
   But, conversely, smoking in offices and shops, including L.C.B.O. stores, was rampant at that time. Cigarette makers sponsored sports and cultural events, and their ads and products dominated corner stores and even some pharmacies.
  Now it’s cigarettes that are hidden away in stores behind blank cabinets, and they come in generic, government-mandated packaging with gruesome photos of tobacco’s health effects. All forms of advertising by the tobacco advertising are a distant memory."

An Alternative Account

 The article that was buried under all of the temperance ones is a temperate one arguing that the suggestions offered by the  sermonizers need to be subjected to some scrutiny. It is found in the Globe and Mail, which is more expensive than MM, so you may not have seen it. The author of it will, I hope, forgive me for reproducing portions of it. He is a professor at Brock University and the article is found here: "Canada's Drastic New Alcohol Guidelines Demand a Closer Look," Globe and Mail, Jan. 20, 2023. You should have a closer look and not rely on my snippets.

   Professor Malleck begins by noting that he is not a generally a critic of public health measures, but that he is "wary of generalized recommendations of behaviour change based upon narrowly selected evidence from a cohort that sounds increasingly like the 19th-century temperance movement." He also raises some issues about the 6,000 studies that were used, and notes as well: 

"Often, too, these kinds of studies involve looking at a broad cohort of people and seeing if those with a certain condition were more likely to have been drinkers. If researchers are only looking for drinking as a factor, it can be easy to miss other potential contributors. We don’t know, for instance, whether they spent their time drinking in smoky bars or restaurants (back when that was allowed), or did so while eating less healthy foods; these factors are often marginalized when alcohol becomes the focus."

"The CCSA also presents the relative risk, rather than the absolute risk, of developing the various conditions. According to its data, consuming three and a half drinks a day increases your risk of developing larynx cancer by nearly 100 per cent, which sounds shocking, and is presented in a table with scary red shading. But larynx cancer, which is mostly related to smoking, was diagnosed in roughly 0.0197 per cent of Canadians in 2022. Many of the other cancers the CCSA associates with alcohol also have low incidence rates. And everyone has a different level of risk for various conditions, based on factors including lifestyle and genetics."

  He also hints that perhaps one should consider that the results provided by the CCSA, might be like the ones about alcohol we would expect if they were coming from MADD.

"We should also consider researcher perspective. The CCSA is focused on harm-first, which is less a criticism than a fact: Although its name emphasizes “substance use and addiction,” its focus is on the negative side of “use.” Its job is to look for harm in the name of health. Through this lens, potential benefits don’t track."

And indeed, the CCSA made its recommendations without consideration of the potential (and well-documented) positive effects of alcohol on the lives of individuals, nor the potential harms caused by excessive and patronizing recommendations in the name of “for your own good” science.

These are important considerations, because human research on a population level (as compared with studies where all complicating factors are controlled in a lab, something you can’t do with long-term human research for legal and ethical reasons) is a point of contention among scholars. Although the CCSA does mention, near the end of the report, the considerable limitations to its conclusions, they do not seem to affect the urgency or excessiveness of its recommendations.

There is more, but because of copyright restrictions, I will just note his conclusion:

"Without considering the potential dangers of such advice, and the potential benefits around moderate drinking, the CCSA recommendations seem worse than useless. They’re reckless."

If the prohibitionists have their way, we may all have to head to the new cannabis dispensaries.

Sources:
Here is the report, "Canada's Guidance on Alcohol and Health," by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction. 

Here is an article about the new guidelines: "Canada's New Alcohol Guidelines Advise Fewer Drinks," Wency Leung, Globe and Mail, Jan. 17, 2023.

The description of what it was like to buy alcohol in Ontario in the 1970s, is by Ian Austen, a Canadian reporter for the New York Times. It is in his "Canada Letter" - "Pushing Alcohol While Health Experts Say Risk-Free Drinking is a Risk," Jan. 21.

Heli-Biking

    Last year one of my sons went heli-biking which is much like heli-skiing. A helicopter flies you to a high and remote location, but you come back down by mountain bike. The descent, by the way, involves traversing the actual mountain, not by coasting downhill on a highway.

   A few other fellows were involved and they survived, along with some good stories about the adventure which took most of the day. I will spare you most of the stories and the pictures will have to suffice. There is one story worth recounting, however, which involves an earlier biking experience that is difficult to believe and which needs evidence. 

"Jumping the Tour"

  My son mentioned that the participants could be described as a hardy and experienced group and that one of them had, years ago, "jumped the Tour de France." The phrase literally means what it implies, that someone soars over the peloton by bike. Not given to boasting or bullshit, my son was not questioned by me and his assertion was verified very easily by a Google search. The participant who told the story actually appears in some of the stories now provided below. I have not included names here to protect the guilty. It may be the case that some of these fellows told their wives or employers or insurance agents that they were spending the day doing something far less dangerous.

   To follow, are stories and videos about heli-biking should you wish to verify my (his) account, or perhaps find out where you can go heli-biking. Since readers of MM are not a particularly credulous lot, I will provide first the most difficult thing to believe - that mountain bikers have jumped over those road bikers riding in the Tour de France. In this account, one of the jumpers featured who jumped the Tour, is still riding in the mountains with my son many years later.

"Road Gaps and Yellow Jerseys: 9 Times Mountain Bikers Crashed the Tour de France Party: A Brief History of Grand Jumps at La Grande Bouche. Terry McKall, Canadian MTB, June 25, 2021. 

Sources:
  For more about "Tour Jumping" see: "All the Famous Bike Jumps Over the Tour de France Peloton From 2003 to 2019: A History of Hucking the Peloton," Rachel Wight, July 17, 2019.
  For Canadian heli-biking opportunities, here are some options. View first this video about mountain biking in "Disneyland" which is the term used to describe the vast mountain playground in the mountains around Squamish, B.C. 
Black Tusk
Wandering Wheels
Alpx (Whistler)
High Terrain Helicopters
Glacier Helicopters

  For articles use "heli biking", helibiking or heli-biking in your search. There seem to be many articles about heli-biking in New Zealand. This article indicates that a lodge in Alaska was among the first to provide heli-biking in the U.S.: "United States' First Heli-Biking Adventure Takes Flight in Alaska at Tordrillo Mountain Lodge," PR Newswire, Oct. 4, 2017:
"Tordrillo Mountain Lodge is the first outfitter in the United States to offer heli-biking, an unrivaled outdoor experience that enables mountain biking access via helicopter to millions of acres of pristine mountain terrain in the breathtaking Tordrillo Mountain range of Alaska.As a top provider of incomparable adventure experiences, Tordrillo Mountain Lodge invested in the country's first Aero Quick Design Release helicopter bike rack, a state-of-the-art piece of equipment that can transport bikes without the burden of disassembling them for flight. With the new rack, four bikers and their bikes, as well as an experienced guide, are flown into the Tordrillo mountain range from the Lodge's helicopter pad and are ready to hit the pristine Alaskan trails in just minutes."

   This article, ten years earlier, indicates that a Canadian resort was offering heli-skiing and heli-biking during the summer. "Heli-biking Is a New Sport That Takes Riders to the Limit - and Leaves Them There,' Michael Park, The Sunday Times, Sept. 16, 2007. Since The Times is behind a pay wall, here is some of the article. It is about the Mike Wiegele Resort in Blue River, B.C.

   "It wasn't until an hour after the orange helicopter had dropped us on top of the cloud-covered mountain that the doubt began to set in. One minute I was hanging on to my mountain bike while careering down rocky trails, over logs and across icy streams at the start of what would be a 7,000ft descent, and the next, I was lost.
"We are more 'off-track' than lost," said Courtney Nash, our guide, in a not completely convincing tone. At that moment, stranded in a ravine on the side of an anonymous peak in the middle of Canada where (I had read) bears and mountain lions roam free, and with only a tyre pump for protection, I'm not too proud to admit that I was losing my bottle. I wondered how long I could survive on three energy bars. Welcome to the entirely unpredictable world of heli-biking. The sport is still in its infancy and as yet there is nothing comparable in Britain, where mountains are few and far between. Across the Atlantic, however, it is taking off as the next big extreme sport.
   The premise is simple. Like heli-skiing, competent bikers looking to push themselves beyond the limit are flown to the top of a mountain peak inaccessible by any other means, in a helicopter. They're then dropped off with their bike and enough supplies for a day's hard ride, and left to fend for themselves. The beauty of it is that as well as tackling some of the most challenging routes imaginable, you get the thrill of knowing you're probably the first person ever to cycle the unmarked trails. Plus, of course, you haven't had to endure the leg-sapping climb to the start point. But the downside is that if you get lost, run into a tree or shoot over a precipice, you're on your own. The sport grew out of the fact that heli-skiing being a winter sport, the choppers were idle during the off season. So bikers approached pilots and asked them to drop them at the same place as they would the skiers, leaving them to make their own way down the mountain.
   Ever more ski resorts are latching on to the idea, and you can choose from a wide range of trails. But most organisers stipulate that you must be an experienced rider, and it's advisable to earn your spurs on the lower nursery slopes before going properly off piste. There you can learn about the techniques required for riding skinnys (a length of log you have to balance along), switchbacks (fast, tight corners) and drop-offs (a sudden step down in the trail).
   In winter, the Mike Wiegele Resort in Blue River, 270 miles northeast of Vancouver, plays host to the rich and famous, all seeking privacy and some of the best virgin powder and downhill skiing in the world. There are no chairlifts to take you to the top of the Monashee mountains in which Wiegele's resort sits, so only those coming in by helicopter can experience the spectacular views of glaciers and snow-capped peaks.
  During the summer, when most of the 30ft of snow that falls each year has melted, the bare rocks, fallen trees and narrow trails alongside streams and soggy grassland offer mountain bikers the most challenging of descents.
   And this is where I found myself on a Saturday morning with half a dozen other heli-bikers kitted out in body armour and helmets and a bike called Rocky Mountain Slayer.
   Going up is almost as thrilling as coming down. Almost. We buzzed over treetops and wilderness that stretched to the horizon, the bikes packed in a net slung beneath the chopper. We banked hard then our veteran pilot dropped us on to a small plateau a few metres from the ridge line from which we would start our descent.
   It's when the helicopter becomes a tiny dot against the granite face of the mountain and the noise of its rotors dies away that you realise just how remote you are. There is no mobile phone signal, when you shout your voice shouts back at you, and beneath your feet is terrain that possibly nobody else has ever stood upon. The view is epic, the sense of wonder all-consuming, and against the massive mountain you and your bike seem very, very small and insignificant.
   We saddled up, clicked into our pedals, adjusted out helmets and rolled over the edge.
   Back in the ravine, August snow had started to fall silently through the trees.Nash decided we had taken a wrong turn at "the big tree" (Er, right, like, which one?) and that we should dismount to retrace our steps. "Be careful," he said, "the snow has made this trail slicker than a gopher's guts."
   And so we worked our way back up the mountain, sunlight bathing the green trees and moss-speckled granite rock by the side of the trail. Gingerly, we coaxed our full-suspension bikes over rocks and roots, through valleys, ravines and pristine forest.
   An hour later we were back on track. Before saddling up for the descent, we paused to take in the spectacular views in every direction. It was then that I decided it was safe to take a bite of the energy bar I had been saving.
   We pedalled gingerly down a single-track trail then bombed down a dirt track used by loggers, as brilliant white clouds of snow billowed through valleys below us and the wind roared in our ears. When we arrived at the end of the road, ready to be picked up, we all agreed that it had been one hell of a ride."

(I was pleased to see that the Mike Wiegele Heli-Skiing Resort still exists.)

Out In Left Field

  We may have reached a linguistic low point.  At the very end of the year, I indicated that the folks at Stanford had launched the "Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative" and, as a result such offensive words as, brave, gentlemen, seminal and even American, were to be expunged (for more examples see,  "Watch Your Mouth.") Now, some Social Work types at the University of Southern California, suggest that the horrific word "FIELD" has to go and no more "field work" done. I thought perhaps this was a joke by those who wanted to poke fun at the Stanford folks, but that is not the case, since the memo below is legitimate (as well as laughable.)

You Can No Longer Be Outstanding In Your Field

No More Trial Runs

   The Stanford censors said that there should be no more "blind studies" (use "masked studies") and those at USC said that "field work" should no longer be said. Since they have gone that far, they might as well add Trial Run, since the mention of the word "trial" may be traumatic for those who have had unfortunate court room experiences. 

CanCon: 
    There are Language Mounties up here as well. There will be no more Brownies playing in the Fields. Although the Brownies will still exist in the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. and Girlguiding in Britain, in Canada they will be known as Embers. 
"The Girl Guides announced in November that it would be retiring the Brownies name to create a more welcoming atmosphere. A few weeks later, members were asked to vote online for the new name, either Embers or Comets. The organization said it had about 58,000 girl members and about 15,000 adult members, most of whom are troop leaders. The name change will be phased in over the next few months as the organization updates its websites, training sessions, marketing materials and other resources, the organization said. The Embers name is expected to be fully adopted by September."
"Girl Guides of Canada Drops Brownies Name," Amanda Holpuch, New York Times, Jan. 12, 2023.

More Clever Mulcahys

 

   I have been slow to get back to blogging in this new year and will not offer my usual excuses. Instead, I will use the creative efforts of an old friend to serve as a catalyst for the many enlightening posts to follow. He sent me an email which refers to the entrepreneurial activities of some Mulcahys who are located farther south. Here it is:

A couple of things I have come across on Google have caused me to question whether you have diversified the Mulcahy portfolio. I came across a Mulcahy’s Pub and Concert Hall located in Wantagh, New York and wondered if you had branched out AND then when I saw that one of their featured events during 2022 was the return of the Micro Professional Wrestling Association. I figured it had to be you. 

Micro Wrestling

   I was tremendously flattered that he figured I was involved, but full credit should be given to that more enterprising branch of the family. Full credit should also be given to the little people for coming up with the term "Micro" which is much more suitable these days than "Midget." 

Whatever Happened to Dwarf Tossing?

  Although I may not be creative, I have the ability to copy and I thought briefly that perhaps opening a pub here in London which offered such activities would be an easy way to make a few dollars, even if they were only Canadian ones. If the folks in Pigeon Ford were sold on it, then the citizens of southern Ontario would likely buy in. But, then I remembered the fate of the Windsor bar where the tossing of dwarves was frowned upon. If you think back twenty years you may recall that our legislature became involved. (You think I jest, but see: "Dwarf Tossing", Bill 97, Dwarf Tossing Ban Act, 2003, Sandra Pupatello. 1.(1) "No person shall organize a dwarf tossing event or engage in dwarf tossing.") Some of the people who got paid to be tossed objected to the legislation, but tossing never really took off around here.  Although Micro Wrestling may be marginally more acceptable and better named, one doesn't need a market researcher to anticipate that such an event held now would yield more protestors than bar patrons and most of them would likely be tall. 

Mulcahy Merch

   I did learn that the Mulcahy pub in Long Island offers branded clothing and there is no reason why Mulcahy's Miscellany could not do the same. If enough of you get back to me with your size, colour preferences and credit card numbers a launch of MM apparel will follow. 

Sources:

   The Wikipedia entry for "Dwarf-tossing" is worth reading and even has a Canadian section. You will also learn about "dwarf bowling", which occurs when a dwarf is placed upon a skateboard and used as a bowling ball.

   For more on Ontario dwarf tossing in Windsor see: "Dwarf Toss at Leopard's Lounge Met With Online Outrage, Petition," CBC News, Jan. 29, 2016. "He walks away at the end of the night with a big smile on his face and jeans full of money," says the owner."

   Mulcahy's Pub & Concert Hall.  Learn more about Micro Wrestling. 

The Bonus: 

   Yet another branch of the Mulcahys operated a bar in Key West right on Duval Street. It no longer appears to be there. Years ago, two sisters (who used to be Mulcahys) and I spotted "Mulcahy's Bar" upon arrival one fine morning and saw their sign offering cheap Margaritas. We ordered three and the bar tender said, "I'll bring you six!" They were 2 for 1.  We didn't even have to mention our name.

Leftovers

 There are many subjects I never get around to subjecting to more scrutiny and the notes about them are voluminous. By the time I get through the notes, I have no time left for the subjects. Here are a few I will treat briefly, so that I can move on.

Secrets of Althorp: The Spencers

  If you paid more attention to MM you would be better prepared to watch this series which is playing on PBS. You are to be excused in this instance, if you did not read what I wrote since you may not have been drawn to the title, "Library Furniture." In it I told you about where in Toronto you could buy such things as an "Althorp Butterfly Accent Table" and I told you much more about Althorp. If you are still watching re-runs of Downton and want more English aristocratic stuff, then finally read my post or have a look at the series.

That photo will attract you I'm sure, and had I included it in my post about furniture, you would likely have read it. If you need more to be convinced to tune in to PBS, let me mention that the chap pictured above is the brother of Princess Diana (and, I don't follow these things, but he may be related somewhat to Meghan Markle.) Plus, Countess Karen Spencer is from Edmonton and she was formerly married to the Hollywood producer who produced Saving Private Ryan. What more do you need?

Free Falling

   You probably don't think about it, but if you fell from an airplane that was at an altitude over 30,000 feet, what would kill you first? That question was recently asked and the likely answer is not as important as knowing that some people have fallen from high in the sky and have survived. I told you about Juliane Koepcke who fell from a couple of miles up in the sky and landed in the Peruvian jungle and she lives on as Dr. Juliane Diller. (see: Juliane's Free Fall Into the Jungle.")

   Vesna Vulović was a flight attendant on plane that took off from Copenhagen after which a bomb went off and she fell over six miles into a village in Czechoslovakia and holds the Guinness World Record for the highest fall without a parachute. See the Wikipedia entry for Vesna Vulović. 

   And if you want to stall a bit longer before entering 2023, have a look at this:
List of Sole Survivors of Aviation Accidents and Incidents. There have been a bunch of them, ranging from 1929 to 2020.

Welcome to 2023

1907 - Some Things Don't Change

Patient: "I can't afford it Doc. I'll simply have to wait until prices come down."

Clearly there were also health care and inflationary concerns back near the beginning of the last century. (London Free Press, Oct. 31, 1907.)

1923 - Some Things Do Change

This advertisement is from the LFP 100 years ago. Clothes are not much of a concern these days. The pandemic didn't help and a large segment of the population now shows up in public in pajamas. Fifty years after this ad., fellows were still wearing suits and fedoras to a ball game.

Now people in airports look like they just came from a garage sale and I gather that even in churches, parishioners arrive in sweat pants and tee shirts. 

   We can do better than this. Perhaps in 2023 we can at least tuck in our shirts and strive to conceal that thong. 

The Bonus:

   Apparently these sartorial issues are not just of concern for those of us in the colonies.

"Very recently a kind friend from New York asked us to dinner at Claridge’s. It has been magnificently enlarged and redecorated, but not, thank God, ‘re-imagined’. The dining room, however, came as a shock. Who were these people, sulky of visage, lounging at tables in tracksuits and T-shirts? The service was impeccable, but my fellow diners looked like they were on their way back from the gym. Later, ruthlessly going through my wardrobe, I came upon a grubby T-shirt and a pair of torn denim shorts. As I flung them into the rubbish box, I had second thoughts. ‘Hang on Barry!’ a voice said. ‘Don’t chuck those away. Someone might invite you to Claridge’s.’"

Source: 
"Why Does No One Dress For Dinner at Claridge's Any More?" Barry Humphries, The Spectator, Dec. 17, 2022.