Good evening, 919 Gang. I received good news today (from Facebook, of all places). California seniors now can renew their driver’s licenses online. No driving to a DMV office, no written test, no eye test, plus you get to keep your current photo.
Go to dmv.ca.gov to see if you quality.
I did it tonight, and it was a breeze. Of course I had to lie (a lot) about my age to pretend to be a senior, but it was worth it. What a relief to have this taken care of.
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KEN STONE writes:
Yes, Welton Jones, the U-T gym was small but real. I used the universal weight machine and one of its four or five treadmills, going a half-hour at 7 mph. (Don’t ask how long I’d last now.)
U-T sports photos, Olympic shots and the like, adorned the walls. After years they became weathered despite the lack of windows. Large inflatable balls were available for stretches and such.
Access to the carpeted room was via U-T ID card, I vaguely recall.
REBER: I wrote that I thought the gym opened about 2001.
WELTON JONES writes:
Just as I thought, the “U-T Gym” was after my time.
The reason for my amazement is the hard time a few of us used to get in the 80s and 90s for trying to ride our bicycles to work.
A problem then, with an activity much less fashionable than it is now, was how to come to one’s desk not smelling of, er, the road. A shower, for many of us, was essential. Then came a bright idea. Ollie Peters, the amiable management fink who used to negotiate Guild contracts with us before the company hired bitter bomber lawyers to kill our union, was persuaded to obtain for several of us keys to the company shower, i.e. the locker room where the printers cleaned up before going home.
We had tall, skinny lockers way down at the far corner of the dressing room, a long walk from the showers. And we had a ton of sullen attitude split between our unfamiliar faces and (relatively) toned and carefully betoweled bodies. We were NOT welcome, as effete reps of the fancy-pants class or something. There were questions exchanged between lower-level management and some union members but the endings were mainly shrugs.
Still, that didn’t help the walk to the showers ordeal. Many of us finally just moved on but, dammit, it WAS convenient. I could ride from my Mission Hills home to Stern’s Gym in Hillcrest and thence to the paper with carefully planned time for a shower before joining the newsroom whirl.
But eventually I found myself mostly, with luck, all alone in those showers. Suspicious janitors (fellow Guild members) probably reported me a few times. But sometimes I got delayed and hit the shift-ending rush hour. That, dear colleagues, was not a moment to cherish in memory.
Eventually, advancing years, endless sneers, a couple of wrecks and the increasing height (somehow) of Hospital Hill up from Mission Valley just put me off the whole concept.
I can assure you, though, that the company never supported, encouraged or really even noticed our biking attempts. And there CERTAINLY was no U-T Gym!
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BOB HAWKINS writes:
Regarding "corners of the globe," I was going to compose a tongue-in-cheek reply to David Farmer on his latest post in the 919 mosh pit but he seems to have cornered the market on tongue and cheek. Nevertheless, the Bible beat both of us to it: “And gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” --Isaiah 11:12
At a time when the earth was considered flat and square, the "four corners" were not such a reach -- conceptually, that is. I'll bet it was a very long walk for the Judah gang. I wonder if anyone ever considered the earth to be a flat octagon. "Eight corners of the earth" just sounds exhausting.
Just guessing here (which is what a lot of folks do on social media when someone asks a question -- or begs the question, in David's case) but I imagine that when someone figured out that the world was round, the compass points became de facto subs for the Biblical "corners."
Anyhow -- and I wish to god this were our very worst sin -- we as a language society are stuck with a globe that has corners. As much as we are with the trickle-down theory of economics.
Even as recent as 2014, popular mystery-thriller writer Robert Goddard got the title "Corners of the Globe" past persnickety editors.
Well, as Covid vaccines begin to spread to all four corners of the globe, I wish you all a joyful New Year with room to move and the ability to explore any corner of the universe that intrigues you.
PRESTON TUREGANO writes:
David Farmer: I believe "the four corners of the globe" comes from 16th Century flat charts and maps of the then-known world that had/have four corners. As for bold type; it's a bold decision.
REBER: “Any corner of the universe”? Now there is an interesting idea. There is much disagreement over the shape of the universe. Here are the top three candidates:
Others say it is shaped like a donut; some say like a trumpet (and there is math to support either).
In all of these examples there is a scarcity of corners. Even the flat and saddle examples (called the open universe) are a problem. The universe is expanding, so corners would be moving targets. And some say the universe is infinite, so that means no corners. Scientists continue to work on this question, and they say they will solve it even if it takes them to the ends of the earth (oops!).
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DAVID FARMER writes:
I'm puzzled (as I so often am). A newspaper reports, "Rep. Blank, a constitutional law professor, was reelected to his third term in the House in November."
I could understand Rep. Blank being elected to his third term. That would mean he's served four years in Congress and is about to start two more.
But did Rep. Blank mess up somehow during a previously undisclosed third term? Did he fail to receive credit for his fifth and sixth years, perhaps in the Congressional retirement system? Does he get a do-over?
I'm surprised that a constitutional law prof wouldn't know enough to stay on Nancy Pelosi's good side. I'm sure she could have cut him a deal. For example, giving him credit for his fifth or sixth year, and making him serve just one of them. Then he advances to his fourth term, like skipping a grade in elementary school.
Meanwhile, things are pretty bad if a college professor can't understand the rules of the House. Or, worse, knows them and decides to disregard one of the more important ones. Frankly, I'm not sure I'd welcome back a Congressman who is either stupid or crooked. We can't allow that kind of person to make our laws.
What? Some of them are both? No way!
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REBER: Tim Wilson forwards a video that is a big hit on the internet tonight.
TIM WILSON forwards:
Rockin' robots:
01 Jan Edna Whiteley
P.O. Box 2239
Ramona, CA 92065-0938
United States
