Striking

How many strikes could a brick breaker break, if a brick breaker could break strikes?

Hit the wrong key - cooment gone - perhaps a sign. So just remember, ne illegitimi non carborundum. You guys are ultimately labor, as are teachers (I’m UFF-FTP-NEA retired), just labor whose independence of mind is a core requirement, but labor nonetheless. So long as the young ‘un has loving parents, nutritious food, and shelter from the storms, all else is icing, unless higher education becomes the exclusive privilege of the privileged.

Besides, talent can’t be outsourced or effectively scabbed, and I can’t imagine that many truly talented people being anti-labor congenital dumbasses.

Stay strong Adam, It could be a long time. Several radio shows today on NPR were talking about 6 months or so. (They were on your side).

Are they still doing new Wait, Waits? Perhaps they can make up for lost time by putting you on every week. Maybe even double up so that you could be 2 of the panelists.

Adam v. Adam in the Lightning Fill in the Blank round? Could include Adam whacking Adam with the picket sign while Paula craps a pineapple. Just thinkin’.

David, it’s sad that Norman Mailer died regardless of how one views him or his work.

In the CNN article, I found this quote kinda curious:

[Mailer on] The ’70s: “The decade in which image became preeminent because nothing deeper was going on.”

That would have been true if you stopped paying attention in, say, 1975; but if you look at the music that came out of the second half of the decade - punk, in particular - it was, in fact, one of the most colorful and substantive periods of the post WWI era.

Now as for the 1980’s … that’s a whole ‘nother story. Ronald Reagan; Duran Duran … need I say more?

Yeah, Dave, I also found that comment curious, and I agree with your take on the 70s. It is worth noting that a very important part of the 70s occurred in the early 70s. Norman Mailer was a fascinating, well, you name it, but he could lay it down when he was on. Still have no idea why he didn’t leave Charlie Rose for dead when Charlie asked him why the US was invading Iraq, and then said “And don’t tell me it’s because of the oil.”

Illinois over the Buckeyes! Told you the Zooker would bring it home for the Illini. Players will leave everything on the field for him. It’s what the Gator players did in his final game when we upset FSU in Tallahassee.

Meanwhile, my College of New Jersey Lions won the New Jersey Athletic Conference and are in the Division III championship playoffs, seeded #14 out of 25. Wooohoooooo!!!!!

Yeah, I’d like to think I’m a product of the 60’s and the 70’s, but I think the latter half of the 70’s has been underrated from a cultural point of view, especially when it comes to music. I suppose it’s a continuum, but it seems to me that from say, Exile on Main Street to London Calling, there was a lot of dead air.

Oh, yeah … and props to my Illini!! I’m stunned, and I have to confess I couldn’t watch the fourth quarter. Still, it was a gi-normous win. Now the hard part … do I root for Ohio State or Michigan next week? If Michigan wins, Illinois, Michigan and OSU could end up in a technical 3-way tie for first place in the Big 10, but Michigan would go to the Rose Bowl anyway. If OSU wins, Illinois could end up in sole possession of 2nd place (I think). Which might mean a better bowl game. Then again, as much as I hate to admit it, Illinois over Northwestern is no lock … so the whole discussion may be academic, anyway.

But who’d have thought Illinois would have an 8-win season under any set of circumstances, with the chance to win 9?! It’s mind boggling, really.

Now if only my Cubs can break that 100 year curse …

I think the latter half of the 70’s has been underrated from a cultural point of view, especially when it comes to MEEEE!!!

I think Point Pleasant might be where we went for the best subs on the planet when I was living in Lakewood working for the Studebaker dealer to earn some money before starting graduate school. And yes, you can see the end of the world from Tuckerton. But I liked my two years in New Jersey, and the people I got to know were as good as any people anywhere, so I continue to stun my Southern friends when I point out my fondness for the Garden State.

Dale, I did some thoroughly enjoyable partying in the later 70s, after a sabbatical that helped preserve my sanity and reinvigorate me as a teacher. But something was going wrong, and it really reared its ugly head with the 1980 election. Or maybe something we thought was going right really wasn’t. The 70s is when we as a nation knew what was needed for the well being of future generations, and we promptly rejected it, especially when we elected Ronald Reagan by an effing electoral landslide, for chrissakes. What a bookend for the styles and pop music - but I did dance.

No, Dale. The ME! Generation didn’t come until the 80’s. “Those who do not remember their past are condemned to repeat their mistakes.” Believe me, we do not want to repeat the 80’s.

So true, G. If only they hadn´t remembered the Alamo.

Fanny, I’m going to kick your butt, if you don’t put that comment I just submitted up on the post. Right now, dammit! Hell, I might kick your butt anyway! Adam, feed your rat, will ya?

Sí, A. Santa Anna, así cierto!!!

I think Mike Myers, in one of the Austin Powers flicks, summarized the 1970’s and 80’s this way: “There was a gas shortage, and A Flock of Seagulls. You didn’t miss much.” Or words to that effect.

Which is a bit unfair when it comes to the 70’s … but I think he rather nailed the 80’s. In a similar vein, a friend of mine once came up with the perfect appellation for all 1980’s bands: A Flock of Haircuts.

Just remember, all the best music associated with the 1980’s actually began in the 1970’s: The Clash, the Ramones, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello (as Chicago DJ Bobby Skafish likes to say, “If your Elvis is dead, try ours”); even, if memory serves, a very young U2 debuted in the late 70’s. I remember seeing U2 play “I Will Follow” on “The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder” (and no, I’m not making that up) when Bono was about 18 or 19 years old, and I was sitting there thinking, how do they make all that noise with just one guitar?! Un-freakin’-believable.

Ah, well. We all grow old, don’t we.

David, i always thought that the Democrats should have done great things with that Republican slogan - Yes. “It’s Morning in America”. Time to wake up, YOU PATHETIC MORONS!!!! - or words to that effect.