Blog About Photography

Brigadier General John Pope, 1860s

John Pope… had come swaggering up in pantaloons that buttoned down the front – “flies,” the innovation would later be called – the first ever seen at the Academy… and the Academy was supposed to set fashion for the Army. When the officers’ women-folk heard of this style which so boldly recognized male anatomy there was horror and consternation, and Mrs. Delafield, learning that her husband was praising it on the grounds of economy and practical utility…was reported as saying that “cadets thus dressed should not come in person to the house.”

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Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), image from Google search

This is Sen. Ben Nelson, a congenial old Democrat from Nebraska. Many of us got to know him over the summer and into the fall when he refused to support health care reform.

This is Nelson explaining to a reporter why he isn’t going to vote on a proposal to cap ATM fees:

“I’ve never used an ATM, so I don’t know what the fees are,” Nelson said, adding that he gets his cash from bank tellers, just not automatic ones. “It’s true, I don’t know how to use one.

“But I could learn how to do it just like I’ve . . . I swipe to get my own gas, buy groceries. I know about the holograms.”

By “holograms,” Nelson clarified that he meant the bar codes on products read by automatic scanners in the checkout lanes at stores such as Lowe’s and Menard’s.

“I go and get my own seating assignment on an airplane,” Nelson said. “I mean, I’m not without some skills. I just haven’t had the need to use an ATM.”

Thank you, Senator. And thank you Alex Balk, as usual.