The web site unm.edu (from the Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson) explains that this is an American expression meaning the “whole lot” The definition of the word “boodle” is the same as “a pile of money.” Americans modified the phrase “kit and caboodle,” because it sounds better than “kit and boodle.” Other sites had more complicated descriptions, but I liked this one.
Author Archives: Advocate
Game Over, How You Can Prosper in a Shattered Economy
This book by Stephen Leeb is the second recent review about the inevitability of an economic collapse. The review of the book posted last week predicts what will happen in the United States compared to what happened in Russia after the Soviet Union collapsed. That book provided little guidance other than encouraging stockpiling of food, medicine, and barter goods. There is advice in “Game Over” on how to be best prepared for predicted collapse caused by runaway inflation and shortages of commodities.“Growing numbers of the world’s 6.6 billion people are now actively seeking to equal Americans’ high consumption lifestyle…” There are limits to all commodities, and governments and central banks are not acting as if they have the restraint necessary to keep inflation under control.
Peak and decline of oil supplies and inadequacies of alternative energy production are likely to cause energy production to fail to keep up with the world’s appetite. Replacing carbon fuels with wind is impossible, because there isn’t enough iron oxide to build enough towers and turbines. It is not yet clear whether solar cells produce a net gain in energy. Thin film photovoltaics require cadmium telluride, and there isn’t a wealth of that available in the world. Producing energy by converting corn into ethanol uses more energy than is gained and making fuel out of food when there is a shortage of food is, to be kind, idiotic. Continue reading
At Stake
This idiom is usually used as a financial term to describe an amount of money that was put at risk in a bet or business venture. It is speculated that it originated with the brutal practice of tethering a bear to a stake and turning dogs loose to attack it. Apparently the bets would be placed on whether the dogs or the bear would be killed. The money that was bet was called “at the stake,” or “at stake.”
Reinventing Collapse, The Soviet Example and American Prospects
This book by Dmitry Orlov predicts a U.S. economic collapse, and it is both interesting and often oddly entertaining. The author was born and grew up in Leningrad, but lived in the U.S. until the mid-seventies. He had several visits to the Soviet Union during the years that political system was preparing to collapse or after it had collapsed. He believes that the U.S. will only have the option of inflating to escape excessive debt or defaulting on obligations. “But the results are the same: a worthless national currency and unhappy international creditors unwilling to extend further credit.” That scenario leads to the need, if the author is correct or partially correct, for individuals to consider what they should do, or prepare to do, if there is a collapse of the U.S. economy. I don’t agree with some of what is written (the risk from global warming, as one example) but I believe the book is worthwhile.
The descriptions of the visits to the Soviet Union are an example of how the author can take the edge off serious matters with clever writing. “The stores were largely empty (in the sense of being quite uncontaminated by consumer goods) and often closed.” He quickly learned a half-liter of vodka could be easily exchanged for ten liters of gasoline, “…giving vodka far greater effective energy density than rocket fuel.” People were willing to exchange items of great value for American jeans. This is an important point. When an economy collapses, it is important to have desirable items to barter for what is needed for survival. The author also warns that, “Access to actual physical resources and assets…and relationships, quickly becomes much more valuable than mere cash.” Continue reading
Made from Scratch
The use of the word “scratch” in this expression began with the description of a line or mark drawn or scratched into the ground to indicate a boundary or starting-point in sports. Scratch then became the definition of giving a competitor no odds, and a “scratch golfer” is given no handicap strokes. The term was later applied to mean “from nothing, such as when a recipe is made from individual ingredients instead of using a boxed mix.
The Nightingale’s Song
This review was written by Steve Ray, and it is the first posting by a guest reviewer. I provide reviews of almost exclusively non-fiction books to help people decide whether they want to add them to their planned reading list. I’m hoping others will be interested in submitting reviews. I tend to fucus on history books with human interest. That said, the following is Steve’s review.
Robert Timberg, an award-winning Washington journalist, a 1964 Naval Academy graduate, and Marine veteran of Vietnam served as the Baltimore Sun’s White House correspondent during the Reagan years. He also held the position of Deputy Chief of the Baltimore Sun’s Washington bureau.
In “The Nightingale’s Song,” Timberg attempts to show how America is still haunted by the Vietnam War. Years have passed and administrations have changed, yet many actions and events have been affected by the experiences of those who served.
The book focuses on the lives of Annapolis graduates John McCain, James Webb, Oliver North, Robert McFarlane and John Poindexter, all who went on to individual notoriety in government service and public life. McCain to the United States Senate, Webb as a best-selling author and Secretary of the Navy, North best known for his involvement in the Iran-Contra affair, McFarlane as National Security Advisor and Poindexter from a “Whiz Kid” on Robert McNamara’s staff to his time as National Security Advisor. From early childhood days, experiences at Annapolis, personal experiences in Vietnam (be it as Marine platoon leaders or the excruciating agony of years in solitary confinement in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp), to careers in politics and government up through the Reagan White House years and Iran-Contra. The five major characters display vast differences in personality and style, but some remarkable similarities as well.
While the reader may be familiar, at least in a passing way, with much of the material presented, the book contains a wealth of information presented in a highly informative and entertaining way. Timberg writes, not in a dry historical research manner, but in the “tell it like it is, no nonsense” manner of a Marine combat lieutenant. As one reviewer commented, “Timberg writes like the former Marine he is. That’s not to say, he doesn’t write well; only that he can be brutally frank, wielding his pen like a combat knife.”
Timberg writes from a position of personal experience. As a graduate of the US Naval Academy and a Marine veteran of Vietnam, he is able to instill a strong sense of believability.
His research included personal interviews with more than 250 people, all of which he names in the book’s appendix. These interviews provide extensive insight into the book’s main characters…the growing-up years of childhood and family, the high school and pre-Annapolis years, Vietnam and the challenges, heartache and personal growth they experienced, and their eventual careers. He also lists an extensive bibliography and notes of sources used in each chapter.
The Nightingale’s Song reads as a novel. It includes such stories as while a midshipman, Oliver North defeated his classmate James Webb in an emotionally charged championship boxing match that is still talked about at Annapolis today. Two decades after that bout, North sat at the center of the Iran-Contra affair at the same time Jim Webb was named Secretary of the Navy. “Anything that happens to Ollie comes to my desk,” Webb sourly told acquaintances. The coolness existed on both sides. Memories of that boxing match apparently had not faded.
As the reader journeys through the lives of these men, he or she can’t help but wonder how these experiences influenced and shaped events in our nation’s history. From Iran-Contra to the building of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington. Did Oliver North’s tendency to do anything to make himself look better in the eyes of others, or his willingness to say anything whether true or not to put himself in the best possible light play a role in the Iran-Contra scandal?
Readers who enjoy politics, history and current events will find “The Nightingale’s Song” satisfying all those interests, and in a very entertaining and informative way. While the outcome of Vietnam and the Iran-Contra episode along with the public lives of these men are known to most Americans, this book provides a lot of other “I didn’t know that” moments. And those moments will make this book resonate with readers.