10.5.2025 – she predicts either

she predicts either
a war or the end of the
world in October

I know how she feels.

So I had to add another “a” to make it work.

Thurber, depending on the time of day, might have forgiven me.

More Thurber here at formuggsandrex.com.

Reading some odd stuff online I came across in review of the book of Thurber Letters titled The Thurber Letters: The Wit, Wisdom and Surprising Life of James Thurber , edited by Harrison Kinney,

In a reviewer states, Thurber never warmed to William Shawn.

Shawn took over as Editor of the New Yorker when Harold Ross died.

I also recently came across the fact that after three years, Shawn dropped out of the University of Michigan and went to New York to find his fortune.

Thurber never graduated from Ohio State after being a student there for five years.

Both institutions wrestled with how to handle these famous but non-degree holding alums.

But did it also sprout the roots of a non-working relationship?

Some one’s PhD dissertation is waiting to be written.

10.4.205 – integrity so strong

integrity so strong
to defend the Constitution
govern their actions

Plaque in Constitution Corner at United States Military Academy at West Point, NY.

A plaque states:

The USMA Class of January 1943
dedicates this
Constitution Corner
to our classmates who died
in combat (shown by *) or in military accidents

They supported and defended the Constitution
as, here on the Plain, we together swore to do.

2 Cadets and 74 of our 409 graduates died in the sequence below …

Plaque Seven states:

The United States boldly broke with the ancient military custom of swearing loyalty to a leader. Article VI required that American Officers thereafter swear loyalty to our basic law, the Constitution.

While many other nations have suffered military coups, the United States never has. Our American Code of Military Obedience requires that, should orders and the law ever conflict, our officers must obey the law. Many other nations have adopted our principle of loyalty to the basic law.

This nation must have military leaders of principle and integrity so strong that their oaths to support and defend the Constitution will unfailingly govern their actions. The purpose of the United States Military Academy is to provide such leaders of character.

We can always hope ..

10.3.2025 – news unstoppably

news unstoppably
not by week and day but by
the hour and minute

During the Second World War, the volume of information dispensed by what were beginning to be called the media — newspapers, magazines, books, movies, and, a few years later, TV — multiplied to an extent that nobody has been able so far to make an accurate reckoning of.

It was a change so great that even the remotest illiterate hermit could not fail to be altered by it; for the first time, with astonishment and sometimes with dismay, one sensed that a Niagara of news was flooding unstoppably in upon us, not by the week and day but by the hour and minute.

People sat by their radios and listened with satisfaction to news bulletins, infinitesimally rewritten as they were repeated, about victories and defeats throughout the world, and then went out and bought newspapers and magazines and gorged themselves on the same information for a tenth or twentieth time.

From Here at the New Yorker by Gill, Brendan, (New York: Viking Press, 1975).

Can you imagine such a world?

One sensed that a Niagara of news was flooding unstoppably in upon us, not by the week and day but by the hour and minute.

Let’s repeat that.

Not by the week.

Not by the day.

But by the hour

But by the minute.

People gorged themselves on the same information for a tenth or twentieth time.

Flooding unstoppably.

Unstoppably!

What a great word, but I digress.

A change so great that even the remotest illiterate hermit could not fail to be altered by it.

1941.

The state of news once the United States got into World War 2.

Looking back at the change wrought in the “media”, Mr. Gill wrote in 1975 that “nobody has been able so far to make an accurate reckoning of.”

On the one hand … no kidding.

On the other, how long will it take to make an accurate reckoning of the social media age?

Will anybody care?

9.23.2025 – all count the same, some …

all count the same, some …
feel little bit different
and this is one of those

“They all count the same, but there are some that feel a little bit different. And this is one of those”

− Troy Aikman, on ESPN, after the Lions 38-20 win over Baltimore

I watched last night.

I watched the Detroit Lions pull off a 4 down goal line stand that was one for the ages.

Then I watched the Lions give the ball right back after a typical for me Lions 3 and out and then I watched the Lions give up a score to tie the game.

In my mind, the score had changed to 21-7 Lions and now it was 14-14.

A lot of game to go to be sure, but my old Lions Fan brain kicked in and I said to myself, ‘Same Old Lions.”

I am here to apologize.

I am here to say I was wrong.

I am here to say, I believe and I won’t doubt again.

And I want to say thank you to the Lions for the break away from everything else on my mind and thank you for the respite.

That 4th and 2 pass, well Boy Howdy, I will not doubt again.

As Troy Aikman said as time wound down, “They all count the same, but there are some that feel a little bit different. And this is one of those.”

Which I thought was pretty good.

As much as I know about TV and behind the scenes producers and production meetings and planned one-liners, I felt that in this moment, Troy Aikman, who has experienced his share of the “thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” spoke from the heart, spontaneously.

Mr. Aikman enjoyed the joy with which the Detroit Lions and their coach, Dan Campbell, play the game.

As Mr. Aikman looked at the crowd, the packed stadium, the roaring fans and the home team all in black, a team named for a bird in a poem written by one of America’s darkest poets (who was from Baltimore), and the visiting team comes in, bets all their chips and lays down the winning hand and Mr. Aikman said, “They all count the same, but there are some that feel a little bit different. And this is one of those”

The next morning in the Detroit Free Press, Mitch Albom published his column with the headline: Detroit Lions prove they are ready for prime time with win at Baltimore.

Mr. Albom led with:

You live long enough, you get to write a sentence like this:

Monday Night was why so much of America loves the Detroit Lions.

Mr. Albom closed with:

Bright Lights, Big Lions. America loves a good show. And America, more and more, loves this team. Go watch the tape of this game again. You’ll see why.

Once again folks, these just aren’t the same old Lions.

9.17.2025 – character, and the

character, and the
common moral sentiment
were their own safeguards

As long as he was able to maintain that by a broad restoration of individual character war would strengthen his society, Theodore Roosevelt could ignore the problem of power.

He, with William McKinley, Pierpont Morgan, and others of the old consensus, assumed that character automatically controlled power.

The decisions of self -regulating men of character would be right, socially beneficent, indeed altogether irreproachable, whether the issue were a vote, a war, an industry, or a canal.

Character, and the common moral sentiment for which it stood, were their own safeguards against any abuse of power.

The Mirror of war: American society and the Spanish-American War by Gerald F. Linderman (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1974).

Along with everything else any cat might drag in, there seems to be a hue and cry against the evils … THE EVILS … of higher education.

The type of place that might teach that character, and the common moral sentiment for which it stood, were their own safeguards against any abuse of power.

Boy HOWDY but do I see why there are those who don’t want anything like that to be taught to college age kids.

Just imagine if a batch of 22 year-olds were dropped into society thinking that character, and the common moral sentiment for which it stood, was important!

I can imagine it.

It was me.

This book was written by Dr. Gerald F. Linderman, the man who gave the 1st real college lecture I ever had the privilege, AND I DO mean privilege of attending.

He taught a survey class of United States History from the Civil War to WW2.

He would stand in front of the class in this huge lecture and at 10 after the hour he would start speaking.

You could soon hear him through out the hall, not that spoke louder but the class would suddenly get less than quiet.

Early on I found out the best seats were in the front rows and I would sit back, spell bound, and listen as Dr. Linderman spun a tale of hero’s and villain’s as he taught the history of the United States.

For the rest of the time I was in college, I took every class I could from Dr. Linderman.

And if there weren’t classes from Dr. Linderman, there was Dr. Fine, Dr. Lockridge and Dr. Lindner.

See, I went to the University of Michigan.

I went to the University of Michigan and I am proud of it.

Sure I like the football team and the basketball team and the big stadium.

But I am here to tell you that if all I could brag about was the 6,000,000 books in the library and the way my mind got opened up by people who understood the value of such a library, I would wear a a Michigan T shirt with just as much pride.

I know, I know, I know, a lot of that comes across as pretty arrogant but if you were there and experienced the challenges, well, all I can say is that it was a pretty special place and it created pretty special people.

Yes I felt I was at one of the top universities in the world.

Yes, I felt I was up against other students who were among the top students anywhere.

Yes, I felt I held my own and if I could hold my own against those students at that University, then yes, I felt I could succeed anywhere.

If that’s arrogance, then so be it.

Because along with those challenges, it was up to you to embrace it.

It wasn’t for everyone

But if you did, the University embraced you back.

There was another student favorite Professor who taught great books by the name of Dr. Ralph Williams.

Each year he would open his class with a welcome speech.

I have done my best to reconstruct this speech from memory.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the University of Michigan!

You have come to a great university, and you come now into a time of extraordinary possibility. This university, vast and varied, is a world unto itself—a place where people from across the globe gather, not only to learn, but to inquire, to explore, and to become.

At Michigan, you will encounter ideas that will challenge you, and people who will expand your understanding of the world. You will study with faculty who are among the best in their fields—who have committed their lives not only to knowledge but to the transformation that knowledge can bring.

And you—each one of you—belong here. Regardless of your background, your accent, your style, your strengths, your uncertainties—you are meant to be here. You have been chosen not only for what you have already achieved but for what you might become.

You are now part of a living tradition, stretching back over 200 years, and yet always reinventing itself. You walk in the same Diag as poets and scientists, as civil rights leaders and Nobel laureates, as people who once stood where you stand, wondering what lies ahead.

My friends—because you are my friends—make the most of this time. Read deeply. Ask questions. Dare to speak. Dare to listen. Reach out to those unlike you, and learn from them. Seek not only information, but understanding. Seek not only success, but wisdom.

And remember: you are not alone here. You are part of a community that believes in you, that hopes with you, and that stands ready to help you grow.

Welcome to the University of Michigan.

Welcome home.

Look, if your college experience wasn’t like this, I am sorry.

I probably had more fun than I should have.

But I grew up a lot as well.

And I can see how an experience like this might scare a lot of people.

Kids, young kids, going someplace where the Professors said:

Ask questions.

Dare to speak.

Dare to listen

A place where people from across the globe gather, not only to learn, but to inquire, to explore, and to become.

I always remembered you are not alone here. You are part of a community that believes in you, that hopes with you, and that stands ready to help you grow.

Scary right?

I sure do understand why some folks would be afraid of places that teach things like that.

Oh geeee whiz.

BTW – As for higher learning, I once was supposed to meet my friend Doug, in front of this building, Angell Hall, on Central Campus. It was winter and I made a bunch of snowballs and hid behind the columns waiting for Doug to come walking up the sidewalk. Standing there, snowball in hand, I heard, HEY MIKE. Doug had come thru the building and came out behind me. Sometimes you can be friends too long.