Plinky, Inc. http://www.plinky.com/people/WaldoLydecker.xml All Rights Reserved Waldo Lydecker - Plinky Answers 2011-03-24T04:04:08-06:00 http://www.plinky.com/answers/139281 A Wild Animal Encounter 2011-03-24T04:04:08-06:00 Panda kiss

I was at the National Zoo in DC. Saw the pandas. "They look wild," I thought.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/138599 My Favorite Museum 2011-03-20T01:11:10-06:00 guggenheim

The Guggenheim in New York: it turns the experience of viewing art- and other people viewing art- on its head.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/138418 My Most Quotable Movies 2011-03-18T19:19:26-06:00 The "Other" Bar in Casablanca

Casablanca, Young Frankenstein

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/137718 How I Got My Name 2011-03-15T07:10:51-06:00 My parents. I wasn't there to be consulted.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/135272 Is Chivalry Dead? 2011-03-02T01:29:51-06:00 Given that both men and women have trouble with ordinary civility- witness all the court TV shows and Maury Povitch's paternity slugfests- chivalry seems a grace too far.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/132538 Professional Goals for the Next Year 2011-02-16T20:36:21-06:00 Hoping there's a profession left besides Wall Street brokers and hedge fund managers.

Oh, and repo guys.

The Republicans don't seem to like professions. Theirs is a world of really rich people and people who don't matter.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/132120 Why We Dream 2011-02-14T18:47:00-06:00 We've got time on our hands and there's nothing ood on TV overnight.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/131855 My Siblings 2011-02-12T20:31:15-06:00 Two surviving, and a brother who died at childbirth. It'd have been nice to have a brother to balance the scales a bit as the only boy in a houseful of women who didn't get along. I spent a significant portion of my life out on the porch swing.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/131688 My Thoughts on Valentine's Day 2011-02-11T21:30:09-06:00 It can't be repealed fast enough. It's a restaurant and greeting card bonanza, and a sharp poke in the eye for anyone who's not in a relationship.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/130824 My Competitive Side 2011-02-08T12:25:22-06:00 Not being competitive.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/130740 Why I'm Thankful for Caller ID 2011-02-08T06:03:36-06:00 Pretty much everyone. The curse of cell phones is that people can drop into your life whenever the please. Not because they need to, just because they are bored and have fidgety fingers. When we had one national phone system and long distance that was relatively expensive, you didn't have to put up with endless crap from people who now call and then call again to complain you didn't answer the first call fast enough. And don't get me started on texting....

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/128639 A Lesson I Learned the Hard Way 2011-01-29T09:36:43-06:00 Being born. Life followed.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/128378 My Fitness Routine 2011-01-28T06:20:58-06:00 Ikon Vodka and Shaker

Vigorous workouts with my martini shaker.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/128047 My Childhood Idols 2011-01-27T01:54:17-06:00 Charles Lindbergh, wearing helmet with goggles up, in open cockpit of airplane at Lambert Field, St. Louis, Missouri

The Boy's Own Adventure hero of my childhood was aviator Charles Lindbergh. He wrote two memoirs and Jimmy Stewart made a movie of his flight over the Atlantic. Most people in those days still had not traveled by air, and it was only a few decades since he had made his flight. He had largely retired from public life so his Nazi sympathies were not a big issue. He was just a young flier who figured out how to do something nobody else had, and did it all alone.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/127461 A Book that Changed My Life 2011-01-25T00:24:52-06:00 Rachel Louise Carson (1907-1964)

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. It made me an environmentalist.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/126849 I Love You but I'm Not in Love with You 2011-01-21T21:06:51-06:00 Three. Got handed my hat every time. My real estate agent, however, was ecstatic. She got a commission coming and going.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/126723 I Love You but I'm Not in Love with You 2011-01-21T06:20:47-06:00 Long enough to know better

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/125159 Global Issues that Deserve More Attention 2011-01-12T01:23:26-06:00 Economic inequality, the linking of food to energy prices, communications in the poor nations, highways in Africa. Just to name a few.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/124895 My Stress Level 2011-01-10T02:21:32-06:00 I'm badgered to death emails and cell phone calls from people who believe they can drop into my life whenever they feel like it and demand that I do things. Prices are going through the roof. TV news is unwatchable, it's so vitriolic. Republicans want to undo health care and financial reform and take us back to the good old days of a collapsing economy and the good news days of 50 million uninsured. I could go on....

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/122390 My Carbon Footprint 2010-12-28T13:34:24-06:00 I do it several times a year. I lived in the Pacific Northwest for a long time. People there take recycling and emissions control seriously.

It works!

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/122293 The Top Three Funniest People in the World 2010-12-27T20:17:25-06:00 1. Jon Stewart. He knows political satire is best served with a stiletto. And against both parties, without fear or favor.

2. Eddie Izzard. His "Dressed To Kill" special on HBO ranges over world history, Star Wars, and how to explain English standup comedy in French ("et le sange et sure le branche").

3. Lewis Black: watching him work up into a rage is priceless.

Honorable mention: Kathy Griffin. Hey she cons CNN to make gay jokes with the allegedly closeted Anderson Griffin every New Year's. A far cry from that Dick Clark (mumble, mumble)/Little Ryan Seacrest ("I'm on TV somewehre 24/7") schtick.

OK. I feel better now.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/119765 Meat Lover or Meatless: My Stance on Vegetarianism 2010-12-12T01:43:03-06:00 It inconveniences hosts at dinner parties.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/119667 The Most Important Thing I'm Putting Off 2010-12-10T23:09:00-06:00 Death.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/119553 Wacky Advice -- But Useful 2010-12-10T02:38:39-06:00 "A wet bird never flies at night."

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/119331 Defining the Word Friend 2010-12-09T03:54:18-06:00 Someone you'll eventually stop hearing from. People don't much do friendship any more. They text instead.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/118584 Words I Live By 2010-12-04T20:37:00-06:00 Do unto others before they do it unto you.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/118348 Just a Little Harmless Venting 2010-12-03T08:09:22-06:00 Damn near everything.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/117765 My Favorite Childhood Movie 2010-11-30T13:30:11-06:00 I used to wake up early on Saturdays, pour a bowl of Special K, and watch Sunrise Theater on the local TV channel. Their offerings were almost all Samuel Z Arkoff/American International and William Castle freak shows. Twelve Ghosts would be a close second. Agnes Moorhead did weird like nobody else.

Favorite movie as a kid?

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/107624 I Wish I Could Ask This Person for Advice 2010-09-07T21:33:10-06:00 Bust of Samuel Johnson

Dr. Johnson. The answer explains itself.

]]> http://www.plinky.com/answers/107372 A Strong Voice 2010-09-05T21:59:44-06:00

It is as close to perfect as I can imagine, with not a wasted word.

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