Never Doubt
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” This chestnut appeared in an email, promoting an event. PG heard a podcast last year, about another Margaret Mead story. Readers of this blog know where this is going.
@anthroreviewed “Did Margaret Mead really say that thing about broken femurs and civilization that is (once again) making the rounds online? Also, are healed femurs a marker of civilization? No. And no. As explore in the second half of this episode… “ A blog post, That Margaret Mead quote, goes into more detail about both stories.
“It’s interesting the quotes that are attributed to Margaret Mead – another is “Never doubt that a small group of people can change the world – indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” … Both are things she could have said, given her personality, but neither is fully attributed – the first instance of the story above is in Dr. Ira Byock’s 2012 book on palliative care, and the above quote only attributed to her, four years after her death, by the author of a fairly hippie-ish book on paths to world peace.”
“This quote (about the femur) has been going around Facebook since mid-March, probably encouraged by this Twitter thread, this FB post, and this article in Forbes, none of which are by archaeologists/anthropologists.”
When the bs detector started dinging, results are just a few clicks away. Highlight the suspicious quote. Right click, choose “Search Google for …,” and wait 0.51 seconds. When one of the results is a story at Quote Investigator®, you have a winner.
When people get caught peddling bogus quotes, they often say that even if the attribution is false, the words are true. What about the featured quote today? It sounds good, and is great for promoting attendance at an event. But is it the truth?
Look at the 9/11 attacks. They did change the world. While it is true that nineteen men pulled off the caper, they had a lot of help. Somebody financed the operation. Other people built the airliners, and the airports where they took off. Somebody dug an oil well, pumped the crude oil, shipped the crude oil to a refinery, and produced the explosive jet fuel that propelled the attacks. In fact, it was the profits from pumping that oil that financed the attacks. “A small group of thoughtful, committed citizens” flew a plane, that someone else built, into the World Trade Center. They were not “the only thing that ever has.” Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Do You Feel Safer?
No, there is no evidence that the F.B.I. organized the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Of course, the NYT is going to say that. Others disagree, and point to a plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan. If the FBI was involved in planning the January 6 incident, it will not be the first time. Here is a story from 2012 about the role federal agents played in the arrest of four elderly men in North Georgia.
A recent episode of Radiolab, Grumpy Old Terrorists, spotlights Georgia. It is about four elderly men, arrested in North Georgia for terrorist activity. The episode features Tom Junod, who wrote an article for Esquire Magazine, Counter-Terrorism Is Getting Complicated. The article has much more information than a twenty minute radio show.
The story focuses on Fred Thomas. A retired Navy man, he worked for Lockheed in Virginia, and moved to Georgia when he retired. He began to hang out on the internet, focusing on a militia forum. After BHO was inaugurated, Mr. Thomas felt that America was going downhill. He met some men online who agreed. The men started to meet. One of the players was a government agent.
The informer was named Joe Sims. (PG does not know if this is his birth name.) According to Esquire, Mr. Sims is a slimy character. He got in trouble, and then got out of jail to work as a snitch.
It is interesting to note that two of wives, of the accused, did not like Mr. Sims. Charlotte Thomas, the wife of Fred, only met him once. Mrs. Thomas was a Frank Sinatra fanatic. When Mr. Sims was in their home, he saw the Sinatra shrine. Joe said, “The trouble with Frank Sinatra is that he can’t sing”.
As the story went down, the old men, and Joe the snitch, had many meetings where they said that something violent needed to be done. Joe the snitch encouraged them, and set up a meeting with an “arms dealer”. Joe handed over his money, and the old man handed over some money. The federal swat team moved in, threw flash grenades, and arrested the old men. The conspirators were so scared they wet their pants. At the same time, the Frank Sinatra shrine was raided. The carpets have burn marks from the flash grenades.
A question was raised on radiolab, do you feel safer now? The feds encouraged the scheme, and helped drive it forward. One person speculated that the sheriff should have had a talk with the old men. Let them know that the law was wise to their game, and the activity would have stopped. Is it a good role for the government to encourage people to commit crimes? In at least one case, government agents recruited and paid people to take part in the “terrorism”. Is this a good use of taxpayer money, and, indeed, does it make us safer?
UPDATE There was a similar incident recently in Forsyth Counth. This is a repost. There are some crucial details left out of this post. Readers are encouraged to read the Esquire magazine article, Counter-Terrorism Is Getting Complicated. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!
Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! was recently the featured presentation at a documentary discussion group. Morgan Spurlock, is the auteur. In Super Size Me, Mr. Spurlock lived on a McDonald’s diet, and survived. SSM was successful enough to justify a sequel.
SSM2HC is not as much a documentary, as it is a “reality” show. Mr. Spurlock wants to open his own restaurant, with healthy food. A consultant sells him a bite of reality. “You know, consumers crave this food. They’re not willing to sacrifice the taste. But there’s this interesting shifting definition of health, so it’s not necessarily 100% healthy for you. It may be bad for you, it’s fried, but it’s got some vegetables in it, so you feel better about it. -So it’s a perception.” Another consultant tells him about the “health halo.” A pinch of lettuce, under the bun, makes the burger taste healthy.
Mr. Spurlock decides to go with chicken, and raise the birds himself. Mr. Spurlock will take the poultry that he raised, and feature them at his own restaurant: Holy Chicken. Nobody knows where he gets the capital, not to mention the time to make it all happen. Mr. Spurlock even has time to call the FDA, on camera, and ask about the rules are for labeling chickens “free range.”
The practices of “Big Chicken” get worked over. (An eye-rolling shot of Marietta’s Big Chicken was cut from the finished film.) It is tough to get real facts here. The giant poultry suppliers have some shady practices. It is in their best interest to keep the story from getting out. A warning letter is sent out by Thomas Super, “Senior Vice President Communications the National Chicken Council.”
The story rolls on. Mr. Spurlock finds an old Wendy’s, in Columbus OH, to house Holy Chicken. The place is decorated, employees are hired, and the media is alerted. Starting a new restaurant is another capital intensive, 25-hour-a-day job. Except for Morgan Spurlock. He takes time out, from his chicken farm, and his restaurant start up, to go to Washington DC. Mr. Spurlock goes, without an appointment, to the National Chicken Council. The plan is to invite Thomas Super to the Holy Chicken grand opening. Mr. Super declined the invitation.
SSM2HC is a joke. The consultants used are real. One wonders why they would participate in something like this … it must be true, there is no bad publicity. CCD Innovation, in $an Francisco, is a real company. Their story took a sad turn. “Kimberly Egan, CCD Innovation Partner, loses battle with breast cancer.” Ms. Egan is the other lady at the table in this clip.
No discussion of Morgan Spurlock is complete without his Me Too story. In December 2017, with the release of SSM2HC eminent, Mr. Spurlock released a statement about his problem. It is uncertain why he chose to do this, but it had consequences. It puts a different spin, on SSM2HC, to know about Morgan Spurlock. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
When In Doubt Shut Up
When in doubt, shut up.
A halo is best worn over one ear.
If you want to be forgiven, forgive. If you want to be understood, understand.
There are few situations that cannot be made worse with anger and loud talk.
You have two ears and one mouth. Listen twice as much as you talk.
A douche is a hygiene appliance. The verb form refers to using this device for cleaning purposes. Neither the noun, nor the verb, is appropriate as an insult.
A sentence has one period, placed at the end. Do not place a period after every word to make a point. You should find another way to show that you really, really mean it.
Not everyone enjoys the sound of your voice as much as you do.
Ass is a noun. It refers to either a donkey, or a butt. It is not an adverb, nor an adjective. Do not place ass between an adjective and a noun.
Before you “call out” somebody for “racism”, drape a towel over your mirror.
The third commandment says to not use the word G-d “in vain”. The G word should only be used for worship, and respectful discussion. Improper uses include expressing anger, selling life insurance, and pledging “allegiance” to a symbol of nationalism. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Call Out Culture







Some people just like to argue. The topic of discussion is irrelevant…they just enjoy the thrill of verbal combat. There is little to be gained by engaging these people. You should never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level, and win by experience. If you wrestle with a hog, you get dirty, and the pig enjoys it. This is a repost
The idea that you should speak up, and call out, is popular these days. A popular quote, credited by some to Thomas Jefferson, says ” “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Unfortunately, many people take sides without understanding the conflict. When you are goaded into foolish action, by irresponsible rhetoric, you choose the side of the oppressor. Often, the one claiming to be the victim is, in fact, the oppressor.
There are a lot of logical fallacies today. Two wrongs making a right. False equivalence. Whining about media coverage. Opinions are like elbows… everyone has two. Don’t talk about religion or politics. Don’t talk with your mouth full. If you can’t say anything good, don’t say anything at all. If everybody shouts, then nobody is heard.
Are you trying to create change, or are you like a dog that wants to bark? If you are going to influence a person, you have to earn that person’s trust. If this person hears you repeating things that are not true, then they are not going to trust you. Once lost, trust is very difficult to regain.
You should think about things like cognitive dissonance, confirmation bias, and mythos over logos. People are hit over the head with a lot of rhetoric and polemic these days. Sorting out the conflicting claims can be tough. You can get into narcotizing dysfunction. This is where you hear so much about something that you tune out new information. When you call out someone, are you pouring water into a barrel that is already overflowing?
This text between the pictures (“The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”) has focused on foolish talk. The word listen has not been used. We don’t need to talk more. We need to listen more. You have two ears, and one mouth, for a reason.









Diane Linkletter Part Three
On Halloween, 1948, a fifth child was born to radio personality Art Linkletter and his wife Lois. The couple named the baby Diane. Her godfather was Walt Disney. … Diane’s life was untroubled until her teenage years. Like most teens, she struggled to find herself. Diane’s path to adulthood was complicated when she eloped at age 17 with Grant Conroy (seven years her senior). Diane thought she was pregnant, and Grant offered to “do the right thing.” When she discovered she was not pregnant, her parents had the marriage annulled. Diane and Grant never even lived together.”
“Diane moved into Shoreham Towers, a luxury building in West Hollywood. The building’s residents were older than Diane, so she made friends closer to her age in the neighborhood. One of Diane’s new friends was Ed Durston, who lived with a roommate in a building across from hers. On Friday evening, October 3, 1969, Diane went out with a friend, Robert Reitman, to a show at the Griffith Observatory. Robert dropped Diane off at her apartment about midnight.”
Bob Jameson says “Ed Durston was a shady dude to say the least.” Ed Durston, aka David E. Durston, was with Diane when she took her final step. In the seventies Mr. Durston became the director of gay porn movies, with Manhole and Boy ‘Napped.
In 1985, Mr. Durston went to Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico, with Carol Wayne. She was an actress, best known as the “Matinee Lady” with Johnny Carson. Miss Wayne drowned on January 13, 1985. IMDB says it was “extremely suspicious circumstances.” Ed Durston died May 6, 2010.
SECOND HOMICIDE INVESTIGATION PROGRESS REPORT covers the incident at 10050 Cielo Drive, August 9, 1969 … the murder of Sharon Tate, and four companions. “On Saturday, 10-4-69, Dianna Linkletter committed suicide at her residence by jumping from the 6th floor kitchen window at her apartment. At the time she jumped, Edward Durston (LA 978 312D) was in the apartment. … As result of previous information from an unreliable informant, Durston had come up as a possible suspect in this case. With Sheriff’s homicide investigators cooperating completely (supervised by Lt. Norman Hamilton), Durston was given polygraph examinations … Included in the examinations were some keys in the Tate homicides. The polygraph operator … , and the investigators are convinced Durston was not involved in the Linkletter death or the Tate case.”
“Also connected with Durston in the original information received were three other hippies, all users of drugs and car thieves: Harvey F. Dareff (LA 978 313D), is the boy friend of Dianna Linkletter, and had lived with her for several months and was substantially supported by her. He is presently in New York as of approximately 9-25-69. He has not been eliminated as a suspect. …. Robert Parker MacDonald, aka Bobby Jamison (LA 684-737J), and James Steven Williams (LA 978-318W); these two subjects are presently in the Sunset Strip area and dealing in narcotics. Narcotics Division, LAPD is attempting to build a case on both subjects at this time. Neither has been eliminated positively as suspects. Investigators feel Dareff is a good suspect as some information has been received indicating he may have gone to the Cielo residence on the evening of 8-8-69, to possibly buy or sell narcotics. This information has not been verified–investigation is continuing.”
The Cielo Drive killings were unsolved on October 4. There are other indications that “Linkletter was a friend of Abigail Folger and probably knew Sharon Tate. … Durston was a “speaking acquaintance” of Voityck Frokowski.” You cannot discuss these cases without wild eyed speculation. Some of it involves the players in the Linkletter drama. It can be neither proved, nor disproved.
“Diane Linkletter-Harvey Dareff’s live in girlfriend, supposedly committed suicide in the presence of Ed Durston … (Durston was an early LAPD suspect in the Tate murders.) … Dareff was at the Cielo Drive residence the afternoon of the murders as part of a drug deal. (recall that a large MDA shipment was due to be delivered to Cielo the evening of the murders). … Dareff and Durston’s friend Bobby Jameson are very strongly believed to be two of the hippies in the van who famously drove caretaker William Garretson home from Sunset the evening of the murders … “
This concludes a three part series. (one two three ) For more accurate information, you can see a John Waters movie The Diane Linkletter Story. There is a book, Diane Linkletter: A Princess Wrongly Accused. At all times, you should be skeptical of everything you hear. “Inter city beauties, Atlantic City Pageant, 1925” illustrate this feature. These images are from The Library of Congress.
Diane Linkletter Part Two






WFMU Beware of the Blog had a tribute to Art Linkletter, after his death, at 98, on May 26, 2010. The story had a link to We Love You, Call Collect, the spoken word entertainment recorded by Art, and Diane, a few months before she self-defenestrated. One of the comments sent PG down a google rabbit hole. “Recently, I was poking around for info on Bobby Jameson/Chris Lucey, who put out the enigmatic Songs of Protest and Anti-Protest, in ’65. Turns out Jameson was pals with Diane Linkletter right up until the time of her death. The liner notes to Rev-Ola’s reissue of “Songs of Protest…” (released, apparently, without Jameson’s permission) repeated the falsehood that Jameson had supplied Linkletter with the LSD that killed her.” This story is about to get weird.
Bobby Jameson aka Chris Lucey was a piece of work. He was recently honored by Ariel Pink with Dedicated To Bobby Jameson Mr. Jameson was a neighbor of Diane Linkletter, and roommate of Ed Durston. Mr. Durston was with Diane Linkletter when she took her final step. There is a blog, with many stories. What follows is just one version of October 4, 1969. It is not verified, and will differ from other accounts. Selections from four posts are used. Bobby Jameson died May 12, 2015.
The Rev-Ola Records story appears to be real. “In my hands is the paper fold out from Rev-Ola Records reissue of the Chris Lucey album-cd “Songs Of Protest” from 2002 … distributed by Rev-Ola Records …, without my permission or knowledge … “Art Linkletter had a television program entitled “Kids Do The Damndest Things” and he couldn’t have been more right about that on the night of October 5th 1969. On this date, his own daughter, Diane Linkletter (originally turned on to LSD by none other than Bobby Jameson) apparently took her own drug-induced leap into infinity.”
“Nancy Harwood and I ended up subletting an apartment from Timmy Rooney, one of Mickey Rooney’s sons. It was located across the street from the Shoreham Towers, where Diane Linkletter lived on the 6th floor. … We ended up with a roommate in the new place, because he already lived in the apartment. His named was Ed Durston. I didn’t want another roommate, but it was the only way Nancy and I could afford to live there. …”
“The apartment was on the second floor of the building. Below us lived another musician named Jimmy George. … Ed Durston was a shady dude to say the least, but he was highly intelligent and quick witted, so if nothing else, he was fun to spar with mentally and verbally. I had to keep an eye on him though, because his interest in Nancy was obvious. Along with just about everybody else during those times, Ed was a loady, and to some extent that was more of a convenience than a problem. Ed always knew where to get drugs, so he did serve a purpose … Both Timmy Rooney, and his brother Mickey Jr, were always dropping by the apartment to see how we were doing. They were well acquainted with Diane Linkletter. … Nancy and I would get to know Diane as well.”
Here is Bobby Jameson’s October 4 story. “I went up … to talk to Ed Durston after Timmy Rooney told me Ed was in the apartment when Diane jumped from her 6th floor kitchen window. I also wanted to see Jimmy George, who lived below the apartment where Nancy and I had lived with Ed. From what I’d learned, Jimmy had actually been outside his apartment, and seen Diane falling to the pavement below. At first he’d thought someone was playing a practical joke and had thrown something out the window, but then realized it was a person. He didn’t know at first it was Diane, and he’d seen her hit the ground. He was in shock, but ran over to where the person hit the pavement, and that is when he realized it was Diane. He told me he could not do anything for her, and it made him feel like an asshole. He said she was still alive when he reached her, and that she looked up at him but couldn’t speak. He said she was bleeding a lot from her head, and he wanted to help her, but didn’t know what to do. …”
“When I got to Ed, he was doing better than Jimmy, but he still looked like he’d been through the ringer. I asked him, “What the fuck happened Ed, what the fuck was going on?” He looked up at me from where he was sitting and said, ” I don’t know man, I really don’t know. We were just there, the two of us,” he said, “talking a long time about life. You know, like half the night …”
“Then she just started acting crazy.” “Whatta ya mean Ed, crazy how?” I asked. “Well, we were sitting on the couch, and she got up and went out on the balcony, and just started climbing up on the railing like she was gonna jump off. I ran out there and drug her off, and pulled her back into the living room, and pinned her down on the floor and said “What the fuck are you doing Diane? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Ed was ringing his hands as he told me the story. He was having a lot of trouble going over that night. “So did she tell you what was wrong?” I pleaded. “No,” said Ed, “She told me she was just screwing around and everything was OK and to let her up because it was just a joke.” Ed kept rubbing his hands together like he couldn’t get them clean. He just kept rubbing them together. He continued on, “I made her promise me that if I let her up she wasn’t gonna do anything crazy, and she said, “I promise.” “I let her up, and she said she was going to go in the kitchen and get a glass of water, and I said OK.” Ed looked like he might start crying at any second, and I didn’t blame him, because it was too awful to comprehend.”
“She walked into the kitchen and I turned around to watch her and she just climbed up on the countertop by the window over the sink. I ran in the kitchen and tried to grab her, but she just went out the window before I could get there.” He paused for a moment, as if to get his courage up and said, “I had a hold of her ankle man, I had her by the ankle, but I couldn’t hold her, I just couldn’t hold her man.” I stood there in front of Ed with this crystal clear picture of Diane’s kitchen in my head, with her going out the window, and Ed trying to hold her by the ankle. I just broke down and cried like a little boy. I just couldn’t believe that it had happened. I stood there in front of Ed crying, for I don’t know how long. I just sobbed, because there wasn’t anything I could do about it either.”
Art Linkletter Control Freak is the last Bob Jameson post to be excerpted today. It is a doozy. In this post, we will be introduced to Harvey Dareff. We will hear more about him later.
“This is a picture of the Shoreham Towers, the building where Diane Linkletter lived. To the left is Horn Ave. where Nancy and I lived with Ed Durston. As I mentioned earlier, Diane had a major problem with her dad, Art Linkletter, who was a control freak and attempted, successfully, to intervene in every single attempt by Diane to have a boyfriend. When I got to know Diane, she had met and was extremely happy about it, a guy name Harvey Dareff. …”
“When her dad found out about Harvey he pulled his usual bullshit and appeared on the scene to carry out his dirty work. Art Linkletter showed up to meet Harvey one day and shoved a $10,000 check in Harvey’s face and told him to take the money and stay away from Diane. Harvey took the check and tore it into little pieces and threw it in Art’s face and said “No” thus canceling out Art’s theory that all any guy wanted from Diane was her money. …”
“Art liked CONTROL, he would go to any length to get his way, period. More than anything else in Diane Linkletter’s life, this incident proved to be the final straw and catalyst that pushed Diane over the edge. In conversations with me she complained that her life was not worth living in, unless she could get her father to stop fucking up every relationship she attempted to have. She told me she had even started having relationships with other women, because she was so goddamned lonely …”
“The trouble with people like Art Linkletter, is that they have constructed a false image of goodness about themselves, and use it to manipulate the world around them to their own satisfaction. Prior to Diane’s death, Linkletter’s oldest daughter’s husband also committed suicide by shooting himself. Maybe someone ought to ask what the fuck was going on in that family that caused 2 young people to end their lives in rapid succession. Art Linkletter used his daughter’s death to blame all things on drugs and thus removing himself as any possible cause for the tragedy. My experience in 1969 with Diane, was that her father Art had more to do with her death than any other single factor there was. ”
This is part two of a three part series. (one three ) Pictures are from The Library of Congress. Image #06663: “Fifth International Pageant of Pulchritude and Eleventh Annual Bathing Girl Revue, Galveston, Texas, August 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1930”






#1619Gate Part Three
When we last checked in on @nhannahjones, she was at the center of a national hissy fit about tenure. This is not usually a hot button issue, but people enjoy controversy. In the few weeks since then, there have been some developments.
Nikole Hannah-Jones will not join UNC-Chapel Hill faculty without tenure This was the day before the chamblee54 piece. “In their letter, Hannah-Jones’s legal team argues information was withheld from her when she signed her fixed-term contract with the school.”
Deadline set for lawsuit in Nikole Hannah-Jones tenure controversy “On Thursday, attorneys … sent a letter to Charles Marshall, the school’s vice chancellor and general counsel. The letter laid out Hannah-Jones’ case and demanded UNC-Chapel Hill make good on what they said was its initial offer of a tenured position for Hannah-Jones … “We intend to bring litigation to vindicate Ms. Hannah-Jones’ rights under federal and state law. This letter is to demand that UNC take immediate action to remedy its conduct to avoid suit by making an unconditional offer to Ms. Hannah-Jones of a tenured appointment as full professor no later than June 4, 2021.”
If you want to make a bad situation worse, have your attorney give an ultimatum. This correspondent is not a lawyer, and was not privy to the negotiations. Is mentioning tenure during contract negotiations a valid reason to break the contract? The dispute went back and forth for a few weeks, and was the occasion for much recreational outrage.
UNC trustees grant tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of The 1619 Project, after weeks of criticism The journalist celebrated on twitter. There were some hints she would not take the job.
Nikole Hannah-Jones chooses to teach at Howard over UNC-Chapel Hill Ms. Hannah-Jones went on “CBS This Morning” to announce her decision. She said, regarding the initial offer, “I accepted it.” As for why she was denied tenure: “It’s pretty clear that my tenure was not taken up because of political opposition, because of discriminatory views against my viewpoint, and, I believe, my race and my gender.” Ms. Hannah-Jones’s hair was less orange than it was in the graduation gown picture.
This feature will not discuss whether she should have received tenure, or the reasons for this denial. These issues have been discussed, at obnoxious length, elsewhere. Nor will it discuss the shady behavior of the Slanderous & nasty-minded mulattress. (When researching this post, a copy was made of the NHJ twitter profile. It included “Knight Chair @unchussman.” The profile has since been updated. NHJ is known for “revising” her twitter account.)
The issue today is fulfilling your contractual obligations. Her legal team admits “Since signing the fixed-term contract, Ms. Hannah-Jones has …” The time to DEMAND tenure is before you sign a five year contract. Given the ethical issues with The 1619 Project, this should not be surprising. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. More #1619Gate episodes are available. One Two Four Five
Diane Linkletter Part One
Did Art Linkletter’s daughter, Diane, jump out a window while high on LSD? This was one of those indications that the sixties would soon be over. But what really happened? The more one looks, the stranger it gets. Let’s look at the basic story. This is a three part series.(one two three)
“At 9 a.m. on the morning of 4 October 1969, Diane Linkletter lept from the kitchen window of her West Hollywood apartment, plunging six floors to the sidewalk below. She died at County USC Medical Center at 10:30 a.m. The preliminary cause of death was given as “multiple traumatic injuries” according to a coroner’s statement. An autopsy was conducted that afternoon.”
Soon the rumors started to “fly.” Diane was tripping on LSD, thought she was a bird, and jumped out the window. When her father, beloved TV personality Art Linkletter, heard the news, he went into attack mode. He blamed her death on LSD, and those who advocate for its use. Art was still raging eleven years later when he confronted Timothy Leary.
Part of the weirdness was Art Linkletter, who some called the squarest person in America. He hosted an afternoon TV show. Every afternoon, a group of kids would be on. Kids Say the Darndest Things. Art would mug for the camera after every one. This video, hosted by Bill Cosby, showcases the talent. Art was also a popular pitch man for commercials. Two of these commercials featured Diane. (Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Circus Nuts)
Here is the snopes synopsis of October 4. Many things in this account are contradicted elsewhere. “Edward Durston was in Diane’s apartment at the time of the fall. … He arrived at 3 a.m., after Diane telephoned him sounding “very upset” and asked him to come over. She baked cookies shortly after his arrival, and they sat up all night talking.”
“About 9 a.m. … Diane Linkletter went into her kitchen and didn’t return. Durston went looking for her but failed to “reach her as she approached the window … She went over to a window. I tried to grab her and she went out.” She was found lying on the sidewalk immediately below her kitchen window. After interviewing Durston, LA homicide detective Lt. Norman Hamilton was convinced the girl had been in a “despondent, depressed, emotional state,” that she was “concerned with her identity, her career.” She had complained she “could not be her own person.” …
“According to Art Linkletter, Diane had called her brother, Robert, just shortly before 9 a.m. on the morning she died, and he was hurrying to her side at the time she jumped. Art Linkletter asserted … that Diane had taken LSD the night before her death, with her panic over its effects leading to the fatal plunge. (Art spoke for the family on the subject of Diane’s death. It appears, however, he was relying upon Robert’s account of his phone call with Diane for that tidbit of information. By all accounts, Art Linkletter hadn’t had direct contact with his daughter during the last twenty-four hours of her life.)”
Edward Durston … made no mention of Diane telephoning her brother. According to Robert Linkletter, however, after he spoke with Diane, he then spoke with Durston, asking Durston if he could handle things until Robert got there. …
“Whatever the truth of the phone call, Robert’s account of it appears to be the source of all claims that Diane’s death was related to LSD, both the original claims that she had taken drugs the night before and died while on an out-of-control trip, and the later claims that she had experienced flashbacks from a bad trip taken six months earlier and was panicked into taking her own life.” (There are unverified stories about Robert Linkletter.)
Was Diane tripping that morning? We honestly do not know. The toxicology report shows no sign of drugs in her system Of course, the dosages used for LSD are very small. They might not show up in a post-mortem blood test. This source says “LSD was detectable in blood samples taken 16 hours after participants had been given 200mcg of LSD.” This report was written in 2019. The test used might not have been available in 1969. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
July 3, 1981
July 3, 1981, was another day before a holiday. The new President, Ronald Reagan, was recovering from gunshot wounds. There was talk of an era of conservatism, with possibly severe repression.
There was an article in the New York Times. RARE CANCER SEEN IN 41 HOMOSEXUALS. “Doctors in New York and California have diagnosed among homosexual men 41 cases of a rare and often rapidly fatal form of cancer. Eight of the victims died less than 24 months after the diagnosis…”
This was the media debut of AIDS. It would not have that name for a while. Almost nobody thought, on that summer day, just how bad AIDS would be. In five years it was obvious how serious AIDS was.
PG was on another trip to the west coast. It was becoming obvious that this would be a vacation, rather than a relocation. He was riding a bicycle, with a milk carton overloaded with camping gear. Some kids told him to get saddle bags, and carry the weight lower. If you have the weight on top, you would lose control coming down a big hill. PG did not listen to the kids.
On July 4, PG left Patrick’s Point state park, about 300 miles north of San Francisco. Coming down the first hill on highway 101, the bike shook, shook harder, and flipped on its side. PG was thrown off. The front wheel was bent beyond repair. PG gathered his gear, left the bike behind, and got a ride into the nearest town.
PG got a bus ticket to Seattle. That city was in an economic downturn, with less than half a page of help wanted ads. PG found a auto delivery service, and got a VW bug going to Oak Ridge, TN. In a few days he was in Atlanta. A few days later, a temp agency came up with a job as a driver for a blueprint company. PG worked for that company, in one form or another, for the next 24 years.
As for the gay men with Kaposi’s Sarcoma … in all probability, the patients mentioned in that article were all dead within a year. AIDS has become a dominating story in our time. At its worst, it was claiming 50,000 lives a year. With the advent of wonder drugs, the death toll has been greatly reduced. The impact of AIDS on American life cannot be adequately described. This is a repost.
Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. Lawrence K. Altman, M.D. is still writing articles for the New York Times.
PU Is Short For Pun
1. The roundest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference.
He acquired his size from too much pi.
2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.
3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.
4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from the algebra class. It was a weapon of math disruption.
5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
6.. No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery.
7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering..
8. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
9. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie..
10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
11. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
12. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
14. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway.
One hat said to the other, ‘You stay here; I’ll go on a head..’
15. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
16. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: ‘Keep off the Grass.’
17. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital.
When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, ‘No change yet.’
18. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
19. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
20. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
21. A backward poet writes inverse.
22. In democracy it’s your vote that counts. In feudalism it’s your count that votes.
23. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.
24. Don’t join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects.
25. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
26. Stories are in the public duh-main. This is a repost.
Is Facial Recognition Technology Racist?
Wrongfully Arrested Because Face Recognition Can’t Tell Black People Apart This headline. posted on facebook, led to a discussion of Facial Recognition Technology (FRT). The headline pushed all kinds of buttons for PG. People are aroused, to the breaking point, about racism. The person who posted the story disagrees. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
The reply posted by person #1 featured some other links. One was for a video, Wrongfully Arrested Because of Flawed Face Recognition Technology. To PG, this is more reasonable, and less inflammatory, than “… Can’t Tell Black People Apart.” It is also easier to believe. PG can accept that FRT has more problems with POC, than with PWOC. To make a blanket claim like “… Can’t Tell Black People Apart” seems like an dangerous exaggeration.
The conversation sat still for the rest of the day. Person #1 is an attorney, who used to live in Atlanta. This is where PG met him. Person #1 is an intelligent, thoughtful person, someone you should listen to. PG might disagree with person #1 on this issue, while still having respect for him.
Then person #2 entered the conversation. PG has never met person #2. All he knows is what he sees on her facebook page. It shows pictures of a vacation in Havana. Person #2 is clearly white. The fact that she took a vacation in Havana indicates that person #2 enjoys a certain amount of privilege. Here is what person #2 added to the conversation:
“”…flawed face recognition technology” sounds like there was a glitch, not like the entire technology was designed in a way that supports white, male normativity (aka white supremacy). Your suggestion that this is the same message is false and suggests we should avoid being more upset by avoiding the actual issue here—because we should frame matters in ways that obfuscate the real problem. We can’t begin to solve these problems if we are afraid to actually say what they are. Yeah, people are going to be upset. THEY SHOULD BE.” … “If you are following the protests and the recent changes that have happened, you know exactly what the anger has led to. If Black anger makes you uncomfortable, address your white fragility. Try to let go of your tone policing and actually engage with the issues. That’s work you have to do on your own.”
University Avenue cleared of barricades near property where Rayshard Brooks was killed. This was the story PG posted in response to “you know exactly what the anger has led to.” In the aftermath of the Rayshard Brooks killing, an armed gang took over the burned out Wendy’s on University Avenue, where the incident occurred. “Residents of the south Atlanta neighborhood in the area had grown frustrated by the blockade that formed – guarded by what they described as armed citizens who they said were not protesting but using the space for their own gain. Residents said that the people would block the street and sometimes not allow them to get in or out of their neighborhood.”
This is one of many examples of where the anger caused by current events has spilled over to harm people. Often, the “collateral damage” did nothing to deserve the abuse they are getting. In many cases, it is POC who are suffering the brunt of the damage. When a privileged white person, like #2, rabble rouses people into action, this is what can happen. University Avenue is the first exit on i75/i85 south of downtown, and is an important access point for many neighborhoods. Many of the people affected by the turmoil on University Avenue are white.
After hearing talk about “white fragility” and “tone policing,” PG is inclined to dismiss person #2 as a cliche spouting idiot. Unfortunately, that seems to be the approach many people have to complex issues. The idea that FRT is designed to reinforce white supremacy would be very amusing to the Chinese government. They are major players in FRT, using it to enable Asian hegenomy.
Lets examine the notion that FRT is racist by design. If this were the case, the developers would go the extra mile to make fewer mistakes with POC. If the goal of FRT is to keep the lawless POC masses under control, then it would help if the system actually worked on POC.
One of the articles cited by person #1 mentioned announcements by some major tech industry players that they were not going to sell FRT services to police. The article linked above mentions concerns about race/gender bias. However, the greater focus here is the overall privacy concerns about FRT.
Is it really a good idea to focus on the racial problems with FRT? There have long been overall privacy concerns about Big Brother. Unfortunately, many people will see an headline about racism and either tune it out, or think that it does not affect them. (“If you are tired of talking about racism, how would you like to live with it”) The human rights concerns about FRT affect everyone. To dismiss these concerns as “white fragility” is counterproductive, insulting, and insane.
This feature is approaching the attention limit of many readers. The facebook thread, and the identity of persons #1 and #2, were hidden out of respect for the privacy of the people involved. Even a cliche-spouting SJW deserves privacy.



















































































































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