Hard-working Americans?

The following was inspired by “Washington clichés, fake news and ‘poiticianese’ by Jim Heffernan.

Oops!  That old newspaper guy let a typo get through!  At least he did better than many newspapers do: he used a diacritical mark in the right place.

Politicians of all stripes appeal to all Americans as “hard-working”.  How do they know that all that they appeal to are really hard-working?  Some have jobs that are almost fun.  Some have jobs that the only hard-working part is boredom.  Some have jobs that seem to be one crisis after another.  Some have jobs that not only are hard but dangerous (and interestingly some of these politicians think reducing the danger is “over-regulation”.

I think I’ve had jobs that have had one or more of these features: programmer, consultant, presenter, Santa Claus, line painter, grocery bagger, stocker, and cashier, and many others.

I’ll mention one that had many of these features: bus driver.

I had the stress of being on time. I had the stress of unruly students.  I had the stress of non-working buses. And I had the joy of attending events on the clock.  I had the joy of napping while my riders toured their site.  I had the joy of reading a book while waiting.  I met lots of really nice people and a few that weren’t so nice.  In short, it was a job that I was glad I did that I am glad that I’m not doing now.

Left-handed-ness

Jim Heffernan, a former Duluth News Tribune editor, posted in his blog about being left-handed.
See http://www.jimheffernan.org/2009/02/left-handed-commentary.html

I sent the the following email to him.

I’m belated catching up on your blog.  The left-handed entry really caught my interest: I too am an overhanded left-handed writer.

But writing is almost the only thing I do exclusively with my left hand, except scratch my right arm:)  I use tools with my right hand.  If fact I can hardly pound a nail straight or saw a straight line with me left hand.

I have a hypothesis on why left-handers write over-hand.

It's how we imitate others.  If we learn something side-by-side, we will imitate our teacher’s handed-ness.  If we learn something face-to-face we might mirror our teacher’s handed-ness.   If we watch somebody write across from us, we will place the pen in the mirror hand.  But then it breaks down because we place the paper in the same direction.  It is very awkward to write left-hand and underhand with the paper slanted “counter-clock-wise”.

I have noticed that fewer people say “Oh, you’re left-handed!”  My inclinations is to say “But when people say that I punch them in the nose with my right hand!”

The right to bear Canons

Jim Heffernan, formerly of the Duluth News Tribune editorial staff, wrote a great letter that was titled "Obama isn't coming after your guns".  Unfortunately, none of the letters for 2012-02-21 were posted online, and so I can't give those of you outside Duluth a link to Jim's letter.  [Update: Jim's letter is at http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/223784/]

Although Wayne LaPierre, executive vice-president of the National Rifle Association, backed off from any claim that President Obama has tried "to take guns away" in his first term, LaPierre stated, "he's hiding his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment in his second term." ["At CPAC, Defeating Obama Trumps Fight for Nomination", New York Times, Erik Eckholm, 2012-02-11.]  Jim wrote that LaPierre "doesn't have a clue" about Obama's intentions.  Jim countered that he knows "very well that LaPierre and the NRA soon will arm every student in Columbine High School in Colorado with an assault rifle."  Jim adds that of course he doesn't know that, but he wouldn't be surprised.

In an email exchange with Jim, I wrote, "the right to bear cameras should be the same as the right to bear cannons. (Or the right to bear a Canon or a cannon.)"  See "Constitution, Rights, and secretive Congress".

The Velcro controversy - equal opportunity satire

Jim Heffernan is at his best when he satirizes public figures (or himself or other journalists).  He really takes on many politicians of different persuasions in "Disaster feared as worldwide Velcro failure spreads".

Be sure to read Jim's latest blog entry sitting down in a chair with arms.  Neither Jim nor I can take responsibility for anyone falling out of his or her chair laughing.

What does the acronym IKEA mean?

Jim Heffernan wrote a blog entry about problems assembling a table he bought at IKEA in the Twin Cities and plans to take it back.

He then wrote another entry on what the acronym IKEA means: I Kan't Envision Assembly!

This hit my curiosity nerve I went to the Swedish version of ikea.com but found nothing. I typed "Vad betyder IKEA" into Google ("What does IKEA mean") and got several hits. The most promising one was "IKEA specialarbete", apparently an unattributed school paper done in 1995.

IKEA stands for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd. Ingvar Kamprad was the founder; he was born on the farm Elmtaryd in the village of Agunnaryd in Småland.

As a teenager he started out buying matchboxes for 1.5 öre and selling them for 5 öre, an öre being the smallest Swedish coin. He wanted to be as rich as Ivar Krueger, the match king. He moved up through various small items including seed packets, pens, and clocks. He was doing so well selling pens that ke decided he had better be incorporated and registered IKEA. His father had to sign for the incorporation because Ingvar was only 17!! This was in 1943.

In 1953 he bought a carpentry shop and converted it to a furniture store and by 1958 he had a warehouse.

The writer calls this a Swedish version of "The American Dream". In 1995 IKEA was worth four to five times the value of the Wallenberg fortune, the Wallenbergs being considered one of the richest families in Sweden. The IKEA fortune was created in only a generation.

IKEA franchises now span the globe; see http://www.ikea.com/ for a list of locations.

What's this about socialist Sweden?

BTW we and our adult children still have furniture that we bought in Sweden in the early 1970s.

Left-handers are not underhanded

I was originally going to email this to Jim Heffernan in response to his blog entry "Left-handed commentary..." but I thought it might be of more general interest.

I too am an overhanded left-hand writer, but I will not compromise and move my watch to my left wrist. I hope that doesn’t make me a Republican.

I think left-handed actions come from mirror copying. That is, we learn many actions by mimicking others. If they sit across from us then we might mirror their actions by using the “hand in the mirror”. If side-by-side then we use the same hand. I think the overhand writing comes because we need to write overhand because we turn the paper the same way everybody else does. With the paper turned counterclockwise, a left=handed writer would have to put the elbow in front of the chest instead of at the side. If we turned the paper clockwise, then it would be easier to write underhanded.

Ah, that’s why left-handed people tend to be liberals! They don’t do things underhanded.

Having said that, I’m not really left-handed. When people see me write, they often say, “Oh, you’re left-handed!” My stock reply is, “You’re making an assumption on flimsy evidence.” For the most part, I seem to do fine movement things with my left hand and large movement things with my right hand. I can’t hammer worth a darn with my left-hand. Side-by-side mimicking? Surprisingly, I draw lines using a ruler with the pen in my right hand. Is that because I have better fine control of the ruler with my left hand?

My best chuckle of the week

Jim Heffernan for years wrote a weekly column for the Duluth News Tribune. His column was a mix of commentary on daily life, Duluth, the state, the country, and the world, often with a bemused or satirical slant. He is now retired, but continues his column in his blog.

His latest was about the Second Coming, "The More Things Change, the More They Are the Same..." After reading it, I sent this note to Jim:

Dear Master of Satire,

“The second commandment is like unto to the first...” but many who call upon His Name seem more concerned about the commentary. The second commandment also means “we are the change”.

- Mel