Okay, Coldy–the 007 of the board–glams off on adventures; Dopers congregate in Vegas, Norfolk, Dublin; Swiddles and Pluto undergo surgery on extreme ends of the digestive system; Michi gets slammed for elective surgery; Eve’s editor is a tone-deaf loser; Shirley ponders the Big Ones; and fascinating posters just keep on being fascinating!
Harumph.
At the top of my game, I’m a wordy, neo-Edwardian misfit who blends effortlessly into bare plaster.
But I’m finally off on my first vacation in 3 years. Hey, ain’t nuthin’ grand but damned welcome. (Must learn to blow off work, y’know?)
So…I’m gone for a bit.
sigh This is like Euty’s “self-referential existential” thead, only worlds less clever.
Have a great time, Veb. E-mail me your address, so I can send you a postcard from Dublin, okay?
Hey, since you’ve decided to adopt the vacation habit, why don’t you come here next year? We can go to Oktoberfest! And I’ve met the greatest guy & he would be perfect for you. If you like him, you two could get married and you can live in his fab house in the Odenwald and I’ll come visit lots and we can drink coffee and gab for hours. Aren’t you the one who likes Scotch? He likes Scotch, too, last time I went over he had 30 bottles out for a tasting!
Sorry, getting ahead of myself here. Seriously, why not come to Europe next year?
Bye, Vebbie! Have a great time and I’ll forward all the interesting and humorous posts to your e-mail account.
VEBLEN, Thorstein - (1857-1929). The American economist and social critic Thorstein Veblen, in his popular book ‘The Theory of the Leisure Class’, used Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution to analyze the modern industrial system. He claimed that industry demands diligence, efficiency, and cooperation among businessmen. What he saw instead were companies run by selfish predators interested in making money and displaying their wealth in what he termed “conspicuous consumption.” Veblen’s other books include ‘The Theory of Business Enterprise’ (1904), ‘The Instinct of Workmanship and the State of the Industrial Arts’ (1914), and ‘Imperial Germany and the Industrial Revolution’ (1915).
Thorstein Bunde Veblen was born to Norwegian immigrant parents in Manitowoc County, Wis., on July 30, 1857, and was brought up in rural Minnesota. He graduated from Carleton College in 1880 and did graduate work at Johns Hopkins and Yale universities before earning his doctorate at the latter in 1884. Unable to find a teaching position, he returned home, where he engaged in farm work and reading for seven years. He was finally accepted as a teacher at the University of Chicago, where he taught political economy until 1906.
From Chicago Veblen moved to Stanford University, then to Missouri. He worked for the Food Administration in Washington, D.C., during World War I. After the war he was a contributor to Dial magazine and a lecturer at the New School for Social Research in New York City. Veblen gave up teaching in 1926 and returned to California. He died in his cabin near Menlo Park on Aug. 3, 1929.
