Welcome back to Thebeerchaser. If you are seeing this post through an e-mail, please visit the blog by clicking on the title at the top to see all of the photos and so the narrative is not clipped or shortened.  External photo attribution at the end of the post.  (#1)

During the summer months, I’ve decided to address some random items – some having to do with bars and breweries and some captured while sipping a gin martini at the beach (up with olives).   As in the first post in this series, I’ll end with three jokes from my files.

Bullshit Will Never be the Same!

It’s psychologically challenging when one knows that a sad event is on the horizon, but the timing is unknown – kind of an ominous foreshadowing, if you will.  Now perhaps that’s an exaggeration in this case, but I was saddened when I received an e-mail from former Beerchasing Regular, “West Coast Dave Hicks.” 

I say former, because after I retired and he moved for a time to the East Coast, our forays to such great bars as Crackerjacks Pub, the Double Barrel Tavern, the Ranger Station, Sloan’s Tavern and the Richmond Bar were relegated to just memories of great beer and great chats.

Dave sent me the obituary of Princeton Emeritus Professor Dr. Harry Frankfurt, author of the wonderful seventy-four page 1986 essay/book On Bullshit.  The good professor died on July 16th at ninety-four. (#2)

When I started this blog in late 2011, I decided that besides reviewing bars and breweries, I would feature an interesting individual or group each quarter.  My Beerchasers-of-the-Quarter might not have anything to do with beer or bars, but in my opinion they’ve made a meaningful contribution to society and their story should be told.

In almost every case, I’ve known the individual or group and they’ve ranged from athletes, authors, media personalities, military heroes and even academicians (including my graduate school professor in Public Finance).   

One of the few I did not know, but felt compelled to “honor” in 2012 after reading his brilliant essay, was Dr. Frankfurt.   As a lark, I looked up his contact info at Princeton and sent him an e-mail describing Thebeerchaser blog and his designation as B-O-Q. 

I thought it would get caught in Princeton’s spam filter or that a person with this distinguished Ph.D.’s schedule would just ignore it..

So I was surprised and thrilled to receive the e-mail below several days later. His cryptic reference in the last sentence also indicated that he read my very long blog post in its entirety. 

Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 7:36 AM
To: Williams, Donald
Subject: RE: Hello Dr. Frankfurt

Dear Mr. Williams,

First of all, thank you for the honor of naming me the January 12, 2012 Beerchaser of the Quarter.

I have looked at the blog in which you announced my receipt of this distinction, and I was impressed by its wit, its charm, and its erudition. Also, I enjoyed the pictures.

I intend to follow your blog regularly. I am especially interested in keeping up with the debate over whether to remove the letter M from the alphabet. I believe that, with regard to this issue, my mind is still completely open.

Anyhow, thanks very much for writing.

Sincerely,         Harry Frankfurt     

In 2020 with the prevalence of lies and BS (he makes a distinction) I felt compelled to republish the original post and add some updated commentary:   https://thebeerchaser.com/2020/03/12/bs-revisited-if-only-i-had-known-in-2012/  ( #3-#4)

I will mourn the passing of Harry Frankfurt, in part, because he won’t be around to comment on the 2024 Presidential Elections. 

And as we listen to the forthcoming debates and interviews we can’t say the Professor did not warn us:

“The realms of advertising and of public relations, and the nowadays closely related realm of politics, are replete with instances of bullshit so unmitigated that they can serve among the most indisputable and classic paradigms of the concept.”   

As an admonition when a candidate steps over the line, perhaps the moderator of each debate should whip out the poster below: (#5)

 

Farewell to Another Icon

The world was saddened with the death of Tony Bennett last week at the age of 96.  He won twenty Grammy Awards and sold over fifty million records during his career.

The crooner captivated audiences for seven decades with his wonderful tunes and his charismatic personality, philosophy of life and support of humanitarian causes.   He was a model for all generations.

Anthony Dominick Benedetto, like Thebeerchaser, was born in Long Island, New York. He struggled with significant personal issues during his life, but overcame them and continued to be a “masterful stylist of American musical standards.”

“(He had) an easy, courtly manner and an uncommonly rich and durable tenor that made him a master of caressing a ballad or brightening an up-tempo number.”  (APNews.com)

And who has not whistled or hummed, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” in the shower….? (#6)

I wrote about him in a 2020 blog post – one not about entertainers but lawyers.  My post was intended to make some observations about my almost forty years working with attorneys.

The opportunity to interact with these professionals during my entire career almost all of whom were ethical, smart, dedicated advocates with amazing work ethics and elevated senses of humor was a real benefit.  

I tried to identify some general traits of lawyers that kept me on my toes in communicating.  The last one I mentioned and the relevance to the preceding narrative is described below in this excerpt from the August 2020 post of Thebeerchaser:

Need to Have the LAST Word 

Over my forty years working with lawyers, I learned that one way to garner their respect was to respond emphatically and with confidence in any (or every) kind of debate whether it was in conversation or electronically.

I learned, however, that even if I prevailed in substance, I should expect, and to some extent, encourage the lawyer to have the last word.  It was a good method to save further time deliberating and allow a win–win result.

My favorite example of the lawyer insisting on the last word, occurred with one of Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt’s very good lawyers from our Vancouver Office who was on a sabbatical in Italy with his wife. 

This counselor was very active in professional and civic activities and served on the Washington State Bar Board of Governors.

They were walking up to the entrance of an exclusive restaurant in Rome and out comes a group of several people led by a distinguished looking gentleman in an impeccably-tailored  suit. 

Obviously, I wasn’t a witness, but I was told that the conversation went essentially like this as the lawyer and his wife approached the group and he addressed the guy in the lead:

Lawyer:  Hi. I know I’ve seen you before.  Are you from the Pacific Northwest?

Stranger:  No.

Lawyer:  Wow!  I know I’ve seen you before… Are you involved with the Vancouver, Washington Chamber of Commerce?

Stranger:  No.

Lawyer:  This is just puzzling to me because I’m positive I’ve seen you before.   Did you have any  dealings with the Washington State Bar Association?

Stranger:  No……. I’m Tony Bennett 

Lawyer:  Oh my God.  You’re right!! (emphasis added)  (#7–#8)

(And “I didn’t leave my heart in Vancouver, Washington!”)

In Closing…

I mentioned in my most recent blog post Summer Simmers – Part 1, that since we will be moving later this year, I’ve been mandated by my wife, Janet, to go through the stacks of files scattered at various places in our house including my office and the garage.

 In my diligent efforts to help Oregon’s recycling efforts, I’ve found that I’m most inclined to keep files entitled “Bar Jokes,” “Lawyer Jokes” and “Quotations.”  

So, unless I hear vehement objections from Beerchaser followers, I will periodically continue to include an example from each of these categories:

Lawyer Joke

A trial lawyer known for his aggressive personality sat in his car in the immense courthouse parking lot during a lunch recess.  He saw an old guy who obviously could not remember where he parked.  So every time the guy held the remote in the air, the lawyer honked his horn.

Bar Joke

A skeleton walks into a bar and the bartender says, “What’ll it be?” The skeleton replies, “I’ll have a beer and a mop.”  (#9-#10)

(Next time, why don’t you try a dry martini?)

Quotation

“When I die, I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather – not terrified like all the passengers in his car.”  (Anonymous)

Cheers!

External Photo Attribution

#1.  Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Sun (Sol).gif – Wikimedia Commons) This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA.  Author:  NASA – 22 April 2008.

#2.  Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harry_Frankfurt_at_2017_ACLS_Annual_Meeting.jpg) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.  Author:
American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) – 29 October 2018.

#3. Princeton University (https://philosophy.princeton.edu/people/harry-frankfurt) 

#4. Wikimedia Commons (File:BULLSHIT rubber stamp on the desk of a Street Photographer.jpg – Wikimedia Commons)  Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.  Author:  Lupus in Saxonia   25 March 2022.

#5. Wikimedia Commons (File:Bullshit.svg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.  Author:  This W3C-unspecified vector image was created with Inkscape by Anynobody, composing work: Mabdul .  Source: Own work using Bsahead.svg:  and No sign.svg:   7 November 2011.

#6. Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tony_Bennett_and_Susan_Crow.jpg)  Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.  Author:  Jeremiah Garcia  9 February 2008.

#7.  Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tony_Bennett_in_2003.jpg)    Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.  Author: Tom Beetz – 11 July 2003.

#8. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SF_From_Marin_Highlands3.jpg)   This work has been released into the public domain by its author, Paul.h at English Wikipedia. This applies worldwide.)

#9.  Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Human-Skeleton.jpg)  The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Author: Skimsta – March 2010.

#10.  Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mop.svg)   I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide.  Author:
Mop.png: AwOc – 25 March 2010.