Would You Like Some Advice With Your Marinara?

The difficulties encountered in attaining power arise partly from the new institutions and laws they are forced to introduce in order to establish their power and make it secure. And it should be realised that taking the initiative in introducing a new form of government is very difficult and dangerous, and unlikely to succeed. The reason is that all those who profit from the old order will be opposed to the innovator, whereas all those who might benefit from the new order are, at best, tepid supporters of him. This lukewarmness arises partly from fear of their adversaries, who have the laws on their side, partly from the skeptical temper of men, who do not really believe in new things unless they have been seen to work well. The result is that whenever those who are opposed to change have the chance to attack the innovator, they do it with much vigour, whereas his supporters act only half-heartedly; so that the innovator and his supporters find themselves in great danger.

Machiavelli, The Prince

A Long Way From Grandma's Casserole

From The Diary of a Country Parson 1758-1802:

I dined at the Chaplain's table with Pickering and Waring, upon a roasted Tongue and Udder, and we went on each of us for it 0.1.9.
N.B. I shall not dine on a roasted Tongue and Udder again very soon.

(N.B.: nota bene, note well; take notice)

CA-RAE-zY

I can't get over these ads! Who would have thought that we now buy more junk to support a war instead of this:

This was an ad in VOGUE!!! Can you imagine it there now? And this in the Saturday Evening Post:

The War Advertising Council and the War Finance Committee were commissioned to create the largest advertising campaign in history, including ads like these about conserving (MAKE DO...OR DO WITHOUT, what a concept!). For the good of the country. To bring the boys home. To win a war. Now we buy more cars and junk at 0% interest and spend, spend, spend. To win a war. To bring them home.

I am flabbergasted. Our collective memory is unforgivably short-term. But then, I am also wondering about the responsibilities of the-powers-that-be. They were the ones who commissioned these ads and aren't they in some way the ones allowing the new deluge. Why the change?

Ideas of Entitlement

—He looked back at the sign, advertising one of the businesses in this mall. The top part was written in script letters: “Pure Interiors.” The bottom half of the sign was a reader board with movable block letters. It read: “God Bless America. New Furniture Arriving Every Day.”
In Remy’s lap was an open pint of Irish whiskey. His hands were shaking. He took a drink and looked back up at the sign: God Bless…New Furniture. He stared at the sign until the words threatened to make some sense,—

The Zero, Jess Walter

Funny how different the "war effort" used to be:

More ads on conserving instead of consuming fats, paper, bottles, cans and GASOLINE here:

http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/wwad-history.html

Sound Advice

"Chumps always make the best husbands. When you marry, Sally, grab a chump. Tap his head first, and if it rings solid, don't hesitate. All the unhappy marriages come from husbands having brains. What good are brains to a man? They only unsettle him. "

Sally (1920), PG Wodehouse

Diatribe by Dawn

People go on about places like Starbucks being unpersonal and all that, but what if that’s what you want? I’d be lost if J.J. and people like that got their way, and there was nothing impersonal in the world. I like to know that there are big places with no windows where no one gives a shit. You need confidence to go into those small places with regular customers—small bookshops and small music shops and small restaurants and cafes. I’m happiest in the Virgin Megastore and Borders and Starbucks and PizzaExpress, where no one gives a shit, and no one knows who you are. My mum and dad are always going on about how soulless those places are, and I’m like, Der. That’s the point.

A Long Way Down, Nick Hornby