The Wednesday Prior to the Window Installation

Four years ago this morning we got a phone call from our father, 'You better get up here,' he said. Ten hours later we were saying kaddish. 

The GOP won the House. Barely. An old friend said to us, 'That’s why I’ve been telling you to chill the hell out  Biden isn’t going to be able to get shit passed.' Still...We wanted bigger things. 

Against our better judgement we're wading into the GOP leadership race. McCarthy is a done deal. You got someone better than Cocaine Mitch for senate leader? Bear in mind Rick Scott ran the RSCC. We'd support Rubio but don't see it happening. [And that's how you get sucked back into politics-Ed].

Dental update: The cute little blonde dental assistant who showed us to exam room 7 was, in fact, the dentist. Our teeth are in good shape, and I won't be making it into the Big Book of British smiles. [You cheeky....-Ed]

Oldest Daughter is learning about the American Revolution [You mean War of the Rebellion -Ed.] If you like. We told her we wrote an article about Parliament's view of things for History Magazine. She asked, 'Are you a reputable source?'

In The Aftermath of 1976 we're finding stray words, unnecessary punctuation, one massive continuity fuck up. And that's why we read the final proof. This process sucks. Everything seems stale and clunky. Our final proofer asked, 'How do you do this?' we replied, 'That's the gig, beautiful. Now get me a cup of coffee. You just take your time walking away.'* [Knobhead-Ed] Jealous? [You wish-Ed].

What Will's Watching, Honest Trailers, Saving Private Ryan. Okay, we laughed. Longtime reader(s) of Stroock's Books know we are highly critical of this movie. Honest Trailers crystalizes that criticism for us.  SPR is not so much a World War Two movie, but a World War Two movie about the World War Two movies Stephen Spielberg saw as a kid. Nihilistic and emotionally manipulative. The tropes, oh the tropes. Honest trailers really nails Spielberg on that one. 

Zerohedge reports what we all know: 'In what we're sure is simply totally a coincidence and nothing more, the grades of attractive female students examined by a new study fell after classes were moved online during the Covid lockdowns. A brand new research paper called "Student beauty and grades under in-person and remote teaching" found that "when education is in-person, attractive students receive higher grades". The same study found that "grades of attractive females declined when teaching was conducted remotely" and that "the effect is only present in courses with significant teacher–student interaction."'

Yeah...We recall a gig back during our high school substitute teaching days. We had the same class for a week. At the end of that time we realized we knew the names of all the pretty girls, but hadn't even noticed the homely one in the back. And during our professorial days, well...We had a student who looked like a live action version of Merida from Brave. Nice girl. Wrote her a transfer recommendation. [I bet you did-Ed] Shut up. There was another redhead, with locks that cascaded down her shoulders like the fires of Mordor.  

Apropos of nothing, below is the US Air safety video we saw on a Christmas trip to Kentucky in 1996, four take offs in all. No wonder it stuck with us. We were intrigued by the guy with the safety vest. Look, it's the 90s:

*Young authors, women always make the best line editors. 

**This post was littered with literary cliches. 'Wade into', 'Against our better judgment'.