Robert is reading a classic book on psychology, morals, and politics.

The Anatomy of Disgust, by William Miller. Harvard University Press.

Excerpt:

“With the possible exception of earwax, which simply must be removed upon the knowledge of its presence, other dangerous bodily excreta are benign if in their proper place inside the body. Saliva in the mouth, snot in the nose, blood in veins, feces in the colon, urine in the bladder are basically not present, being safely where they belong as long as attention is not called to them. The magical transformation that happens once any of these substances leaves its natural domain can be illustrated by a thought experiment Gordon Allport proposed more than forty years ago:

‘Think first of swallowing the saliva in your mouth, or do so.  Then imagine expectoraint it into a tumbler and drinking it! What seemed natural and “mine” suddenly becomes disgusting and alien. Or picture yourself sucking blood from a prick in your finger; then imagine sucking blood from a bandage around your finger! what I perceive as separate from my body becomes, in the twinkling of an eye, cold and foreign.'”

Lots of nice passages like this.  The main conclusions of the book, which Robert has not yet gotten to but which he knows have entered into lots of moral psychology, is that disgust is highly linked to thoughts of “otherness” between people.  Leading to such nice things as racial intolerance and genocide.

Two more scumbags bite the dust.

S.I. Newhouse Jr., who as the owner of The New Yorker, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Architectural Digest and other magazines wielded vast influence over American culture, fashion and social taste, died on Sunday at his home, a family spokesman said. He was 89. More.

Hugh Hefner, gone to his reward at the age of 91, was a pornographer and chauvinist who got rich on masturbation, consumerism and the exploitation of women, aged into a leering grotesque in a captain’s hat, and died a pack rat in a decaying manse where porn blared during his pathetic orgies. More

Lots of ten-and-under tennis happening today at Lafayette Tennis Club. Sir Rory played three matches and took one win.  We’re proud of his improvement!

Rory can be seen below (blue shirt) showing off his killer racket drop before a crushing forehand.  Just like that other guy!

Dishonest piece of shit. Liar to himself.

From the New York Times

“Herbert W. Kalmbach, Richard M. Nixon’s personal lawyer and a conduit for hush money from the 1972 presidential campaign to the Watergate burglars, died on Sept. 15 in Newport Beach, Calif. He was 95.”

Read more.

From New York Times (full article)

Gin Wong, a Chinese-born architect whose modernist designs helped define the postwar landscape of Los Angeles in structures as diverse as a gas station, CBS Television City and Los Angeles International Airport, died on Sept. 1 in Beverly Hills. He was 94.

Architects traditionally achieve renown with corporate headquarters, private residences, museums, concert halls and stadiums. And while Mr. Wong worked on many such projects, it was an unconventional one — his 1960 design of a Union 76 gas station in Beverly Hills — that remains one of his most beloved and enduring.

Among his many other works were commercial buildings in Singapore and Honolulu; a savings and loan branch in Rancho Mirage, Calif., with curved walls made of Mexican black lava rock; hotels, restaurants and houses; a library in South Korea; and, in downtown Los Angeles, the Midnight Mission, a facility for the homeless featuring landscaping with golden-leaved honey locust trees that shimmer in the breeze.

From the New York Times

Read full article here.

LONDON — There is a monster beneath the streets of London, menacing the East End underworld.

What has been named the Whitechapel fatberg is a rock-solid agglomeration of fat, disposable wipes, diapers, condoms and tampons. It was discovered to the east of the city’s financial district, occupying a sixth of a mile of sewer under Whitechapel Road, between one of London’s largest mosques and a pub called the Blind Beggar, where walking tours are taken to reminisce about a notorious gangland murder.

Thames Water, the capital’s utility, said the fatberg weighed as much as 11 of the city’s double-decker buses: more than 140 tons. That is 10 times the size of a similar mass that the company found beneath Kingston, in South London, in 2013, and declared the biggest example in British history.

To prevent the contents of the sewer from flooding streets and homes nearby, the utility is sending an eight-member team to break up the fatberg with high-powered jet hoses and hand tools. The task is expected to take them three weeks, working seven days a week.

And there is a chance that a slice of the fatberg will be preserved for generations to come. The Museum of London said on Wednesday that it hoped to acquire a cross-section of the blob for its collection.

Here’s a good write-up of an important upcoming case to be heard by the US Supreme Court next term.  Thank you Amy Howe.

Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission

The only thing Robert wants to say at this point is the following:

Dear friends, similar to the Citizen’s United case, this is a First Amendment case. However you feel about gay marriage, please don’t get sucked down into the vortex of misinformation echo chambers. Consider the free speech and free exercise concerns before deciding.  Thank you.  That is all.

Annual pilgrimage into the city for opera in Golden Gate Park.

Mira and Stacy just won the 3.5 level division of the 2017 Hal Wagner Memorial Doubles Tournament!  Great job!  Rather than winning prize money, they were awarded a lovely picnic blanket and a water bottle to commemorate their victory. Who needs a giant check, anyway?

Mira and her partner Stacy have made the finals at the 2017 Hal Wagner Memorial Tennis Tournament at the Rafael Racket Club.  Tomorrow is the decider. They may go up against their good friends Francie and Christie.

Here’s the draw .