Depression Party

"The Grapes of Ralph?"

Do tell.

"The Grapes of Ralph?"

Do tell.

http://www.amazon.com/Grapes-Ralph-Wine ... 501&sr=1-1

He also illustrated this:

http://www.amazon.com/Curse-Lono-Hunter ... 765&sr=1-2

[Jenise]

Hmmm, not sure I'd want to go along with the sentiment of this party, sounds kinda like defeatism

What's defeatist about laughing at it? Quite the other way around, I think! But hey--beggars purses! Now that's an idea!

Look into Hobo Code or Hobo Sign Language - their shorthand for communicating about the local environment - frequently with reference to eating

I keep intending to get "The Grapes of Ralph" but always forget when it's convenient. I have Steadman's Still Life With Bottle, about the history of whisky. I'll admit, I bought it for the illustrations.

Hmmm, not sure I'd want to go along with the sentiment of this party, sounds kinda like defeatism

What's defeatist about laughing at it?

Not to argue against laughter (or imply any criticism at all of the party's spirit) I see where Shel T is coming from. My issue isn't the laughter, it's what is the reality being laughed at. Many other people are publicly throwing around the term economic depression as if they have no understanding of what it meant historically.

If anyone needed evidence of modern US journalism as an entertainment, not an information, industry, they got it in recent months. Stock market jerks up for a day or two, newscasters claim "recovery." It goes back down, they darkly cite the Great Depression. Either is high drama, and sells the goods. (Seldom do they mention, for instance, that unemployment was substantially higher in the early 1980s than today -- an era not remembered nationally as a depression -- or that in The Great Depression, unemployment was three times as high. Could this strange sort of "perspective" come from the top? From the Vice-President-to-be* ? From the Speaker of the House (next in line for President!), twice on national media gravely describing her concern over 500 million unemployed ("per month" even). Why do gaffes like those (on exams) keep kids out of college, when they're no barrier to high office? That I could laugh about!

*To Katie Couric on CBS News: “When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the princes of greed. He said, ‘look, here’s what happened.’” Stranger than fiction.

Hi Max.

Nice to see you. But wasn't that Biden rather than Couric??

F

But wasn't that Biden rather than Couric??

Exactly -- Biden to Couric, in the astounding quotation above. (I'm almost surprised he didn't claim that "FDR" -- who of course would not be president until years later -- didn't use the Internet, rather than TV -- US TV of course arrived two decades after the date he mentioned, and Biden is even old enough that he saw it happen.)

Something I omitted, grousing about journalists milking incremental enconomic data for headlines: While busy doing that, they seem (so far as I've seen) to overlook real news, like the vast upswing in new-product development here in silicon valley, last couple months. As a technologist in one sector, I got more headhunter calls the last several weeks than I usually see in a year or two. So I compared notes with friends in other specialties, in good vantage points. Similar activity in all sorts of manufactured high-tech products. New engineering hires, new patent activity, etc. This of course is early in product cycles -- development rather than manufacturing -- but it means diverse smart money is gearing up to bring many new goods to the "party" in a year or two.

So a party I'd host today might have a different theme! Cheers -- M

[Jenise]

I see where Shel T is coming from. My issue isn't the laughter, it's what is the reality being laughed at. Many other people are publicly throwing around the term economic depression as if they have no understanding of what it meant historically.

Max, I assure you that I consider the economy no laughing matter: in the last year my husband and I have lost more money than we could afford to lose, and we've had to seriously change our life plan because of it. As well we've gone ahead with an expensive home remodel that we really can't afford at this point, but we're doing it because the alternative was to let the house rot and fall down around us. Whatever you make of my bubbly on-line personae, please don't write me off as someone who doesn't get what's happening.

I do. And I also get that many here in my neighborhood are also going through a lot of belt-tightening. Hence the fact that our next neighborhood tasting will concentrate on $10 and under wine values--we'll have some 30 different wines available for sampling and self-pour instead of our usual sit-down formality. As well, we're going to charge a discounted rate and provide food, something we normally don't do, to create a more communal, supportive atmosphere. This is a very serious attempt to do something more worthwhile than usual--just because we wrap it up in fun, please don't miss the forest for the trees and get caught up in the name I used for my thread title.

Hi Jenise -- to clarify -- I didn't take your message at all to mean that you thought the economy any laughing matter, or that you didn't get what's happening, nor would I ever write you off. ("Not to argue against laughter, or imply any criticism at all ... Many other people ...") I'm sorry if I was unclear. Your spirits and insight and character shine through in your writing, if you don't mind my saying so. It isn't the party title. It's my soapbox gripe with the current cavalier misuse of "depression" by pundits who, as Eisenhower wrote when he was a soldier, "fight their battles from the comfort of the armchair," and make other misrepresentations too, apparently for headline value, not just clueless but reckless. Because as we all know, large-scale economic activity is partly a matter of mood. Moreover, as I added later, some very non-depression things are happening in the economy now, and aren't getting reported by the same people.

Please resume the party discussion.

Speaking of which, IMO, "beggar's purses" -- if they're anything like the ones Kinch used to serve, ossetra caviare with a little crème fraîche or something, gathered in a thin crêpe, tied with ribbon of scallion, served with Champagne --
might have a little echo of Marie Antoinette (qu'ils mangent des brioches!) in such a party.

-- Max

[Jenise]

It isn't the party title. It's my soapbox gripe with the current cavalier misuse of "depression" by pundits...Moreover, as I added later, some very non-depression things are happening in the economy now, and aren't getting reported by the same people.

That's perfect, thanks; I undersand and share your gripe.

Speaking of which, IMO, "beggar's purses" -- if they're anything like the ones Kinch used to serve, ossetra caviare with a little crème fraîche or something, gathered in a thin crêpe, tied with ribbon of scallion, served with Champagne -- might have a little echo of Marie Antoinette (qu'ils mangent des brioches!) in such a party.

Hmmmm! Cute idea using crepes, and would be tempted to do something appetizerish if I had the means to make crepes. But I don't (no kitchen at the moment), so I'm thinking instead to do them as a dessert, with some mass-produced but upscale chocolates wherein the 'purse' is newpaper secured with twine.