Ken’s Blog

At a Whole Foods that I sometimes frequent, more than half of the magazines for sale at the checkout lines have generally featured Taylor Swift on their cover. That is not at all surprising, considering her popularity.

I went to that same Whole Foods store today, and noticed a remarkable change since my last visit: Not a single magazine that the store had chosen to sell at checkout featured Taylor Swift. It was as though she didn’t exist.

I wonder why that is.

Sometimes I remember that every new day is a universe of opportunity. When you wake up in the morning, anything is still possible.

This is truly a wonderful and miraculous thing. And the best part is this: If you miss that opportunity, there is always the next day.

The most brilliant thing about multiplayer computer games is that by engaging people to kill each other’s avatars, they bring people together in a spirit of joyful cooperation.

If that is not a delightful example of understanding human nature, I don’t know what is.

There were so many completely nutty moments in last Tuesday’s debate that it makes me want to print my own tee shirts with custom messages.

One tee shirt might just say “They’re coming for our pets!”

If you could print your own tee shirt, what would yours say?

I told somebody today that I am a student of life.

I added that I would like to stay enrolled here for as long as possible before I need to graduate.

In my mind the two events go together — last night’s presidential debate and the fact that this is the twenty third anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center.

The world is an unsafe place. Until September 11, 2001, everyone on the planet seemed to know that except the citizens of the United States of America.

Of course, that all changed overnight. The sort of existential threat that Europe and other parts of the world have needed to deal with every day was suddenly on our radar as well.

Now, with multiple wars ranging around the world, with the threat of nuclear escalation hovering over our collective heads, this is not the time to fool around. Electing a reality TV star to lead our country is never a good idea, but at some moments in history it can be an especially bad idea.

Last night reminded us what sane, intelligent, cool headed leadership looks like. We do have a choice to elect the grownup in the room.

And when we do, everybody in the world will be that much safer.

I remember the very first time I heard the David Essex song Rock On on the radio. I was completely transfixed by the beautifully desolate sound of that track — it was like listening to the spectral ghost of rock and roll.

I couldn’t get enough of it. Every time through, it just kept getting better. Especially that bass line.

It was only later that I learned that I was mainly responding to an innovative double-tracked bass guitar arrangement. The deep silences around it left that doubled bass guitar nearly all by itself — with plenty of room to create a haunted and elegiac space.

And just today, in honor of the great Herbie Flowers, who passed a just few days ago at the age of 86, I have been playing Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side on repeat.

Every time through, it just keeps getting better. Especially that bass line.

So here’s a thought experiment:

There are about 16,000 square miles of highway in the United States. I know that because I looked it up.

To fully power the United States with solar energy, it would take about 22,000 square miles of solar collectors. I know that because I looked it up.

If we cover all of those highways with solar collectors, they could provide more than two thirds of our nation’s electrical power needs.

Like I said, just a thought.

To compute in “The Cloud” sounds to me rather eerie
And there is something about it that makes me feel leery
Instead you might call it The Fog, not The Cloud
Now see how that sounds when you say it aloud
You may find that it gives you a more faithful take
By making it clear that the whole thing’s opaque

This week Tucker Carlson brought a guest onto his podcast, whom he introduced as “perhaps the greatest historian of our day.” The guest then proceded to tell everyone that Hitler was really an ok guy, Jews were never exterminated by the Nazis, and in fact WWII was the fault of Winston Churchill, who was a raging maniac.

Does that make Tucker Carlson a Holocaust denier?

Elon Musk tweeted about the interview, and said that the guest speaker made some good points. A while later Musk deleted the tweet, implicitly denying that he’d ever supported it. Does that make Musk a Holocaust denier denier?

While the White House forcefully condemn the podcast, the Republican candidate for President said nothing. But Vance, his running mate, mostly just said that he doesn’t believe in cancelling people because of who they choose to hang out with.

So I guess in his book it was perfectly ok for Elon Musk to tweet and then untweet support for Nazi revisionism.

Does that make Vance a Holocaust denier denier denier?