What are we ABOUT

Welcome to Ye Olde Crabb’s Website –

Toward the end of life, some things become clearer – not many.

They are called “articles of faith”.  As my Mom once said, it is perhaps not as important where you draw the lines, but that you draw them, and that you adhere to them. That’s not easy.

And, then again perhaps one grows accustomed to Gertrude Stein’s legendary and probably apocryphal deathbed confession – “What is the answer?”, she is alleged to have whispered. And when she got no response, then she asked, equally unsuccessfully, “What is the question?”

Humor, sarcasm, and just being mean-spirited sometimes helps reduce the pressure.

That, perhaps, is the origin of this website.

I hope it will at least amuse you sometimes.

To humor me, all comment within the normal bounds of respect and honesty are welcomed. We might repeat might even reprint some of it if you are of a mind and give us your permission.

Meanwhile, keep the aspidistra flying!

[aka Sol Sanders]

P.S. The “pages” — the spots above the logo — have highlighted postings, some recent, some older. You can scan them with a double-click, repeat double-click. And you can also locate favorite subject matter by using the search feature. The tags are pretty cavalier so try anything that comes to mind. And, again, please feel free to let me know what you think in the comment section. -YOC

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27 Responses to About

zozovoltaire | April 3, 2011 at 4:53 pm | Reply

I like the clear, friendly setup here. I’ll be back.

On content: Your famous negativity is well-placed in that piece on what Libya isn’t. Right on target.
Albert Elie Adès | April 3, 2011 at 8:27 pm | Reply

 

Ye Old Crab

Congrats and best of luck with your new Website. If I can contribute with
comments about Brazil or the Middle east please count on me.

Cheers

Astérix

 

Jack Heslin | April 3, 2011 at 8:32 pm | Reply

Sol – I like the new web site. I am glad you have articles available by categories. I look forward to visiting often. Thanks – Jack
Dong Duong | April 4, 2011 at 1:22 am | Reply

 

Hi Sol,
This is not a chant du cygne,  I hope. I like it.
Dong
yeoldecrabb | April 4, 2011 at 2:21 am | Reply

Dear Dong and Hao –

Helas! Probablement. Le temps fuit.

But, hopefully, some sweet notes among the croaks. For example:

Ye Olde Crabb

 

DE Teodoru | April 4, 2011 at 3:07 am | Reply

I NEVER, EVER disliked anything you did. I always learned from your wisdom and passed it on to others on my list so as to be stopped cold from being the freight train heading for a wreck on a sharp turn, rushing forward fueled by false certainty….But no doubt I also often disagreed. Yet, disagreement was always besides the point. Self-debate was what it called for and I saw your text, when opposite to my views, as reason to re-argue my views with myself. That sort of makes you my cognitive daddy!

Greeted as “Mamaligahead” by you is a reminder THAT THOUGH MY OWN FATHER IS GONE, THERE IS THERE A CHALLENGER OF MY THOUGHTS THAT CUTS THEM DOWN TO OPINIONS BUT NEVER TRUTHS. Between science and you I’m aging in frustrating self-doubt. But without that I might be like the people that outrage me for their closed minds. Hang in there as you are a nurturing blow for, I am sure, far more than me. Your derisive Romanian temperament reminds me that there is no “your” truth and “my” truth but ever more complexity for us all to keep learning and thinking about. And all this is a cost-free muse that points me ever to look on the other side of every one of my mountains of certainty. For sure you kick ass others as you do to this “Mamaligahead.” This venue makes it neater but never less shattering. Keep the blows coming, please!

 

 

Yes indeed, le temps fuit! So never put off to tomorrow the health care you can get today….Too many of us, your juniors, depend on you to keep the fontanels in our our skulls from closing!!!!
Jonathan Slevin | April 5, 2011 at 3:55 am | Reply

 

 

Sol,

Since we neither know the answer nor the question — let’s go bowling.
And now, I get to access Ye Olde Crabbe ruminations, by category. What a treat! Thanks.
Curtis Schenck | April 6, 2011 at 12:29 am | Reply

YOC –

Great to see you back up and running!

またね,
Curtis

 

OneArmed | April 7, 2011 at 7:29 am | Reply

To Ye Olde Crabb:

With only the very best wishes — that I should be 1/2 the Crabb you are!

OneArmed!

 

 

Bruce Kesler | April 7, 2011 at 7:32 am | Reply

“Ageing wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.” — Douglas MacArthur
All should not quit as long as you have, and will continue to.

 

Robert Morton | April 7, 2011 at 7:42 am | Reply

Sol, I have always thought your were holding back. By all means let the www know what you really think . . . within the boundaries of conventional wisdom and politeness at the nation’s premier newsrooms, of course (not!). Congratulations for getting all that rare and valuable insight and knowledge situated at one place where it can be conveniently accessed.
Victor Chen | April 7, 2011 at 10:02 am | Reply

Hi Sol: Hope the humor and sarcasm bit was inspired, perhaps in a small way, by me, not by Bob Hope!
Vic

 
Steven Ginsberg | April 7, 2011 at 8:21 pm | Reply

YOC-
Thanks for keeping me tuned-in all these years and into the future! The phrase, “Don’t improve the silence” does NOT pertain to you!
All the best-
Jews on the Prairie

 

DavidB | April 7, 2011 at 11:25 pm | Reply

Love G. Orwell.

 

My favorite book, ever, is
Coming Up For Air.
I read it every 4,5 years.
Best of luck, came over here
from Maggies.

Margarete Healy | April 12, 2011 at 2:02 am | Reply

It couldn’t have happened to someone less erudite than you! As you are well aware, I am an old admirer and supporter of your craft that always exceeds my expectations. Mazl tov. WW

 

Van J Kottis | May 9, 2011 at 8:23 am | Reply

It’s been almost two years since I sat at the foot of wisdom. I see Jack H is also here. Thank you Sol

 

Nguyen Ngoc Linh | June 2, 2011 at 12:12 am | Reply

Dear Sol,
If I were to write something about Ye Old Crabb, it will be something like the following: Sol Sanders is a very good journalist who likes to go to the bottom of the news, a good friend always loyal who enjoys his friends who greatly appreciate his friendship. The journalist always looks at the bright side of the news but can never be bluffed into accepting unacceptable explanations of the events. The friend always accepts his friends as they are, is realistic about them but does not judge them. A great journalist and a dependable friend indeed, this Ye Old Crabb friend of mine whom I am proud to call “mon ami.” LINH
Bob Reichenbach | December 11, 2011 at 3:19 am | Reply

Hey Sol. When we all were young pups at BW, the rest of us all thought you were about the smartest guy around and marveled at your wordly knowledge and experiences. It staggers the imagination to think, nearly 60 years later, how much smarter and more worldly you have become. I trust that the end-game notes merely are for effect. Keep ‘em coming!
Bob Reichenbach

 

Nguyễn Ngọc Bích | November 5, 2012 at 8:01 am | Reply

Dear Sol,
Your blog feels and smells like a fresh flower. Though I am always running around I should stop more often to get some of your wisdom, Ye Olde Crabb! Great cheer and thanks for your ever-young spirit!
yeoldecrabb | May 17, 2013 at 8:14 pm | Reply

Linh –

Let’s get together next time I am up in Disneyland. Not sure when yet.

Ye Olde Crabb
Norman Bailey | November 5, 2012 at 12:59 pm | Reply

Wonderfu,Sol! Always an enormous pleasure. Only one caveat (pace Al Haig); crabs don’t croak. Frogs do.
yeoldecrabb | May 17, 2013 at 8:13 pm | Reply

This one does. He has clogged sinuses.

Ye Olde Crabb

Robert Angel | November 5, 2012 at 2:21 pm | Reply

Great stuff, Sol. Thanks for the link. Keep ‘em coming!

 

Mehmud Ahmed | November 5, 2012 at 8:30 pm | Reply

Sol: Was glad to see you blog site and hope you recall memories of days gone by too..about Viet Nam and other wars you covered., Nehru’s last days, your interviews with Ayub Khan and the people you knew in Tokyo. You owe to the younger crabs to tell them how things were in pre-PC days and how you filed ran to telegraphh offices to file your stories. You are not that old and a crab yet to forget things worth telling. Good luck.
Carter Clews | November 6, 2012 at 6:04 pm | Reply

 

 

Sol, I am thrilled that you have started a blog. To paraphrase Stanton, “Now, you belong to the pages.” And the rest of us are better off for it. I can’t wait to continue reading your sagacious insights.

Carter Clews

 

DE Teodoru | December 23, 2012 at 10:06 pm | Reply

As we learn how to tweak the molecular biology of man– particularly by more honestly obeying circadian cycle rules– we live not only longer but also capable of being wiser. In the midst of immersion into molecular biology I could not help noticing how new scholarship provides all sorts of new pathways of thinking about global economy and Middle East. Similarly popping up, just as about Vietnam and the Cold War, is evidence about the means to longevity and mental clarity. Key to the biologic aspect– the one that we old guys most depend on– seems to be FASTING. Fasting one to two days a week (and eating the skins of red grapes)…as so many supposedly NOT advanced nations have a tradition of doing….seems to increase life ~50% both in quality and longevity by activating acetylating of our metabolic genome with the genetic factors, the seven SIRTUNs. Similarly, fasting periodically from the 24/7 cycle of the news media to engorge on the historic lessons of the past provided by very thought provoking newly released or found materials and scholarship covering our early years of Cold War experience that formulated for each of us our idees fixes Towers of Babel, seem to enable us to “second look” all our current rigid perspectives (based on these old biases) before they sclerotize in Alzheimer’s plaques. In a nation where eating constantly, engorging on empty calories as stress manifestation, and following the news cycles in hope that we can be just as obese with notions of current politics as from our indulging in endless fatty meals, the fasting from what’s new just to contemplate ever more deeply and openly what’s new about the past, may greatly increase the survival of our contemporary musings as legitimately debate worthy contentions.

While we grow older, there’s so much that’s new about OUR past– that which we so activistically lived through– that the question is really simply: are we plain too tired, too old for revisionism? No! No! No! Here biology tells us now that death is the only thing that ends our ever growing generation of new brain cells and new synaptic connections. So, we can learn….so long as we activate our SIRTUNs to halt the oxidative radicals of certainty that keep attacking our brains.

Let’s fast, eating less in our GI systems and being sure less in our mental ones . The result will be surprising vitality at a time when we were thinking of going out to pick a coffin or box for our ashes……LIFE GOES ON ROARING TO THE VERY END and Sol is living proof of that. I look forward to his adjustment of his circadian rhythms so that he may grace us with his ever renewed musings, guiding us into our own. Ye Old Grab has a long, long crabby way to go. Stay well and keep shouting!!!!
Lesli | May 4, 2013 at 12:57 pm | Reply

The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to read, but I actually thought youd have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could fix if you werent too busy looking for attention.
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