Ramblin' with Roger: LINKORAMA

So, it appears I've turned my old blog...

2011-01-01T01:11:00.002-05:00

into my new home for all my links!
I LIKE IT!

I've Got A New Drug Blog

2010-05-03T05:32:00.001-04:00

I am now blogging at: www.rogerogreen.com. That's ROGER O GREEN dot COM.

Since I'm pretty sure I NEVER quoted or even paraphrased Huey Lewis and the News in five years on this blog:
I Want A New Drug
ROG

Five Years

2010-05-02T04:22:00.004-04:00

Stealing the idea from Bacardi, here's Five Years by David Bowie.

Frankly, I'm surprised I made it here. Five years of blogging every day, at least once a day. I have to work REALLY hard NOT to blog MORE than once a day, but I was reasonably successful; only 367 blogposts in the last 365 days, and I'm sure one of those was a prominent death that JUST COULDN'T WAIT.

But the other reason I'm surprised I made it is that, last summer, I got REALLY discouraged. I'm not one of those people who cares about having hundreds of hits a day. When my monthly numbers dropped from 4109 in May 2009 to 3041 in June, it didn't bother me overmuch. But when it sank to 1575 in July, THAT was really bothersome. What did I do wrong? I started posting notices of my blogposts on Twitter and Facebook, which actually did help a little, but I am not great at doing that regularly.

BTW, #1: I signed up with some service on the web to automatically post my blog post links to Facebook and Twitter. Instead, it was posting annoying advertising stuff to my Twitter account. So I canceled it, as soon as I saw it on my blog sidebar. Sorry about that.

BTW, #2: two people asked me why I have two Facebook accounts within 30 minutes when I went to the comic book show in Albany last Sunday. It's easy: I started one, using my work e-mail, then I couldn't find it. so I started ANOTHER one with my home e-mail. Now I know what both of them are. If I had the time, I'd just cancel one, but since there are people on one who aren't on the other...well, it'd be work. Someday. When I retire, maybe, or take a long vacation where I actually just play on the computer. That is to say, not any time soon.

Then I noticed something: this blog, which had been on the first page of Google, disappeared from Google. It didn't just fall off the first page; it seems to have vanished altogether.

Now, *I* can be found on a Google search. My Twitter and my blog on the Times Union can be found in the top 10. One of my Facebook pages and even my seldom-used Library 2.0 account - check out the vintage of the picture - are in the top 30. Even comments, articles I've written for other blogs, and specific pieces from the TU blog show up. But not this one.

This has pretty much forced a momentous decision.
ROG

You just can't have too many computers

2010-05-01T05:13:00.000-04:00

I had the idea for my presentation for the Underground Railroad conference months earlier. But on long-term projects, I procrastinate. (Or, conversely, I do it right away, because I know I tend to procrastinate.)

So it's the Monday before the Saturday of the conference. I've taken the day off from work. The plan: in the morning, finally watch Hurt Locker on DVD. In the afternoon, go to the library and work on the presentation. Neither of these things happen, though; the daughter is home sick for the 10th time this school year. and as usual, she's not SO sick that she's sleeping, but rather needs regular attention from daddy.

So it's now the Thursday evening before the Saturday of the conference. I blow off Bible study and choir, stay at work until 8 pm and actually get the presentation into some sort of narrative shape. It's not finished, but it's quite far along.

So it's now the day before the conference. I dig out the thumb drive I was given which I had never used, and copy the program. My intention is to finish it up at home on the wife's laptop. Except the wife's computer doesn't seem to have a cursor anymore.

So now it's the morning of the conference. I still cannot get the laptop to work. As for my desktop computer, not only is it slow, it is so old that it actually doesn't have a compatible slot for the thumb drive. I'm thinking I may have to go to the downtown branch of the library; the local branch doesn't open until 1 pm, and that's too late.

Then I play with the daughter's new Netbook that her aunt and uncle just gave her for Valentine's Day. I can't get the Internet to work on it, but the word processing is fine, and the presentation is finished Just In Time.

Eventually - I have no idea how - I've gotten the cursor to work again on the wife's laptop. I mean I'm a Luddite, but not as bad as this guy, at least most of the time.

So here's the question: do you consider yourself technologically savvy, or do you go around screaming when technology fails? I'm not a screamer, but...well, let's put it this way: DON'T hire me for IT.

ROG

35 Years After Vietnam

2010-04-30T05:19:00.002-04:00

Was it only six years ago when I realized that the Vietnam war, contrary to the historic record, was not over after all? I'm talking, of course, about Vietnam vet John Kerry and what he did (or didn't) do in protesting a war he once fought in, dredged up during the 2004 Presidential election between Kerry and George W. Bush, whose own military record also came into question.

I admit to have been one of those people who actually supported the Vietnam war in the beginning of 1967. After all, it was an American war, I was an American, ipso facto, Q.E.D. My opposition to the conflict evolved over the next year or so, starting with the Beyond Vietnam speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1967, a year to the day before he died. (Was that just coincidence?)

The group that most influenced me at the time was the VVAW, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. It was one thing for civilians to oppose the war. It was quite another thing to see soldiers who had been fighting the war then come out against it.

In time, I found about some of the history of conflict in Vietnam, the fighting against the Japanese and the French, among others. The French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 might have signaled the end of colonial occupation, but it led to greater involvement by the Americans, first in small numbers of analysts in the 1950s to massive numbers troops in the mid-1960s, facilitated in no small part by the prevarication that was the Gulf of Tonkin resolution in August of 1964.

No doubt that many of the soldiers may have operated honorably, but it's also true that the My Lai massacre in 1968 was not the only atrocity in this drawn-out engagement. My buddy Steve Bissette wrote a piece about a couple films delineating military failings during Vietnam and a more recent conflict. (I actually chuckled when I discovered his post was dated February 2, for that was the date in 1972 when the draft for those born in 1953 took place; that's a LONG story.)

My general disinclination towards war is fueled by the belief that even in a "good war" (a true oxymoron), bad things, unintended things occur. Even the "good guys" get it wrong sometimes, regardless of the safeguards. Thus war should always be a last resort, not a first option.

In a bold attempt to be "fair and balanced, I point out to you The Politically Incorrect Guide™ to the Vietnam WarK -- "the latest installment in Regnery Publishing’s bestselling Politically Incorrect Guide™ (“PIG”) series -- [Phillip] Jennings gives you the surprising truth, and backs it up with facts that liberals ignore."

I should note that I haven't read the book. Among the assertions:
*The Tet offensive was a debacle for the North Vietnamese
*Communist Vietnam is now trying to emulate a more capitalist approach
I actually agree with both of those statements, but not with most of the others.

Thirty-five years after Vietnam and we're still fighting the war.

***
Pete Seeger: Waist Deep in the Big Muddy from the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Pete turns 91 on Monday.

ROG

I am painting

2010-04-29T05:26:00.004-04:00

I am painting the attic. The daughter helped me with the primer coat, but still--
I am painting the attic because, after we got half of the attic insulated - in JANUARY - the Wife said we had to paint that half of the attic.
I am painting the attic, even though she didn't mention painting it BEFORE we got the attic insulated.
I am painting the attic, since she thought it was "obvious" that we would have to paint it after the insulation.
I am painting the attic, even though the only time painting is "obvious" to me is when paint is peeling or obviously faded.
I am painting the attic, even though I think it's "just the attic".
I am painting the attic because all of the items in the one half of the attic are now jammed in the other half of the attic, making everything in the attic inaccessible.
I am painting the attic because I want to play my LPs.
I am painting the attic because I want to access my summer clothes.
I am painting the attic because it's the only way to get to about half of my books.
I am painting the attic because there are things on the second floor, including the Christmas decorations, that really need to go up to the attic.
I am painting the attic despite the fact that I hate painting - the feel of paint, the smell of paint. Don't tell me that modern paint has "no smell".
I am painting the attic despite the fact that I can't see the difference between the current light gray walls, the white primer and the yellow paint, so I keep painting over the same areas. Maybe I'm just colorblind.
I am painting the attic now, even though it would have been better to paint the attic in the winter, when it's not as warm.
I am painting the attic, even though it takes time away from writing a decent blog post.
***
Go look at these quite spectacular pictures of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano.
***
May Day, May Day! Free Comic Book Day, the Kentucky Derby and May Day all converge on May 1.
***
Do pacifiers lead to drug addiction and masturbation?

ROG

TV Fandom Meme

2010-04-28T04:43:00.000-04:00

From Mr. Frog.

Pick five of your favorite shows, in no particular order, before you read the below questions, then answer them!

1. M*A*S*H
2. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
3. The Dick van Dyke Show
4. Homicide: Life on the Street
5. The Twilight Zone

01. Who's your favorite character in 2?
Sue Ann Nivens (Betty White), who came across as very sweet, but who in fact was incredibly nasty.

02. Who's your least favorite character in 1?
Klinger (Jamie Farr), after he gave up the dresses. He used to be a one-trick pony, but then became a no-trick pony.

03. What's your favorite episode of 4?
Requiem for Adena. "Pembleton and Bayliss have to deal with the body of a young girl who was assaulted and killed, bring back memories of the Adena Watson case. The reflection on the old case dredges up bad memories and bad feelings which they try to put behind them." Here's a full episode guide for this great show, that was written by the guy who later wrote The Wire.

04. What's your favorite season of 5?
It was so long ago...not the first season and not the last. Probably Season Three. An episode guide.

05. Who is your favorite ship in 3?
The Alan Brady Show. (What does this question mean?)

06. Who is your anti-ship in 2?
Ted Baxter (ditto).

07. How long have you watched 1?
I watched virtually every show from the first eight seasons twice each, but the last three seasons only once each. Occasionally catch a rerun now.

08. How did you become interested in 3?
It was just there. But I admit to being fascinated by Laura Petrie's (Mary Tyler Moore) capri pants.

09. Who's your favorite actor/actress in 4?
Andre Braugher as Det. Francis Xavier "Frank" Pembleton

10. Which do you prefer: Show 1, 2 or 5?
Well, I love them all, obviously. But the hometown connection forces me to pick TZ.

11. Which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3?
M*A*S*H, but only because it ran six seasons longer.

12. If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?
Richard Belzer as Det. John Munch, who's been on about a half dozen different shows as the same character.

13. How would you kill off your favorite character in 1?
Hawkeye commits suicide trying to stop the war.

14. Give a random quote from 1.
"It's nice to be nice to the nice." Frank Burns. My wife and I STILL use this line.

15. Which character from 5 would be a good guest star on 2?
Well, since TZ is an anthology, plenty to pick from. How about the William Shatner character from Nightmare at 20,000 Feet first visiting WJM-TV, going crazy from listening to Ted. Ted could be what the Shatner character sees on the wing.

16. Would a 3/4 crossover work?
The Dick van Dyke Show and Homicide? I'm having a difficult time imagining it. Rob Sally, and Buddy go rogue, kill Alan and Mel...nah.

17. Pair 2 characters in 1 that would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple.
Staff Sgt. Luther Rizzo (G. W. Bailey) brought around by the patient Nurse Kellye (Kellye Nakahara)

18. Has 5 inspired you in any way?
Yes, to read a lot, to follow the career of Rod Serling, and to have pride in my hometown of Binghamton.

19. Overall, which show has a better cast, 2 or 4?
Probably 2, only because there were more transitions in 4. Massive regular and recurring cast on Homicide.

20. Which has better theme music, 3 or 5?
Well, van Dyke's was more melodic. TZ was more atmospheric. I guess the latter might be slightly more memorable to the current generation, but they're both great.
***
Oh, heck, might as well do this one, too.

1. What is your favorite Star Trek movie? (not including STXI)?
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, of course. It's the best Trek movie of the first five..

2. What is your favorite scene in STXI?
XI? Is that the new movie? Haven't seen it yet.

3. When were you first introduced to the Star Trek franchise?
My father watched it when it was on NBC 1966-69; I wasn't interested. Think I saw the CARTOON version, which I liked, then started watching the original series, by then in syndication.

4. Is there anything Star Trek around the room in which you're currently sitting?
No, actualloy. I thought I had an episode guide, but I'm not seeing it.

5. Vulcan ears are: A) cute, B) sexy, C) neither, D) both.
D. Both.

6. If you could be any other species than human in the Star Trek universe, you would be:
Vulcans. I know it's the obvious answer; there you go.

7. Which pet would you rather have: a sehlat or a tribble?
well, not the Tribbles.

8. Who might you cast in the role of reboot Nurse Chapel? Khan? Other reboot character?
Kate Beckinsale was the first person I thought of for Chapel; don't know why.
Khan I'd leave be.

9. Kirk and Spock are:
Brothers of different blood types.

10. If you could give any Star Trek character a chance to be captain of the Enterprise?
Uhura.

BONUS. Think fast! Give one Star Trek quote from memory.
"Please, Spock, do me a favor... and don't say it's `fascinating' -- Dr. McCoy

ROG

O is for Olympics

2010-04-27T04:58:00.001-04:00

You thought that when the closing ceremonies took place in Vancouver, BC at the end of February, the high-caliber athletes had almost all left town. But there would be, in March, a parallel "Olympics", he Paralympics, coming to the Canadian city. This involves a number of athletes who compete at the highest levels despite their physical disabilities.

The Paralympics started in 1960 (summer) and 1976 (winter), and has its own governing board, separate from the IOC. Yet, since the Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea in 1988, the location of these games have paralleled the locations of the Summer and Winter Olympics. At least for the next Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, the Olympics and the Paralympics share a common organizing committee. I called the U.S. folks in the Paralympic movement to clarify the relationship between the two groups, but the public relations person was not available.

The summer and winter games include the following sports, governed by the IPC: Alpine Skiing, Athletics, Biathlon, Cross-Country Skiing, Ice Sledge Hockey, Powerlifting, Shooting, Swimming, Wheelchair Dance Sport, plus several sports regulated by international federations, and a handful of others under the jurisdiction of International Organization of Sport for the Disabled.

The Paralympics are not to be confused with the Special Olympics, founded by the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver. "For people with intellectual disabilities, Special Olympics is often the only place where they have an opportunity to participate in their communities and develop belief in themselves."

Not incidentally, this year is the premiere of the Youth Olympic Games;you can find more here.

Of course, there are the Olympics, which ran for about 1000 years, then was canceled for over a millennium, with a few furtive attempts to restart during that time. I'm not going to talk about the modern Games, which started in 1896, except for three things:
1) if I ever get to Switzerland, I MUST go to the Olympic museum
2) a really cool feature on the olympic.org site is feature that can retrieve all the Olympic results from 1896 through 2008; Vancouver is not yet represented.
3)Juan Antonio Samaranch, former IOC head, recently died. Got to say that he really modernized the financing of the games, though there were some issues over the Salt Lake City Games. And, except for American Avery Brundidge, he was the only IOC head I could name.

Sumi, the Paralympics mascot

ABC Wednesday
ROG

The Lydster, Part 73: The Health Report

2010-04-26T05:19:00.005-04:00

A bunch of pictures from last fall. The reason I don't use a digital camera is the very real likelihood that I would lose it. I took these on a one-use camera, then lost it, then recently found it.

In any case, Lydia is 4'2" (50 inches) and 70 pounds. She's over the 97th percentile for her height and her weight. She's very active. Not only does she take ballet once a week, but she dances in front of the TV to the music of her favorite TV shows. Usually it's quite graceful, though the thing she was doing to one particular song from the Backyardigans looked more like thrash dancing.

She loves to run. In a 50-yard race, she will beat me because she has great acceleration; eventually, I can catch her, but it is by using maximum effort. She'll race me up the stairs and always beat me, but to be fair to me, she usually has the inside track.

She has various and sundry allergies, some seasonal, others year-round. She takes Zyrtec practically daily, plus her fluoride and vitamin, and other medicines seasonally, as needed. She was tested again, and she's still allergic to peanuts; she's never been allergic to tree nuts, but we have to avoid them too, since they tend to be processed in the same location.

She lost her eighth (or is it her ninth?) baby tooth this week, and has one adult tooth (top center). I must say that the Tooth Fairy is WAY more generous with her than she was with me.

As I've noted she's doing well in school. Initially she fretted that she wasn't ready - the source of the glum look (above) is that this was the first day of school back in September - but now she loves it.

I generally help her with her homework. Recently, he had to add coins, two quarters, and she guessed 51 cents. I explained that if 5 plus 5 equal a number ending in zero, than any two numbers each with the last digit of 5 added together would end with zero. She hugged me and said, "Thank you for showing me that, Daddy!" She REALLY loves to learn. The curse of being the child of a teacher and a librarian, I suppose.

EDIT: Found picture.

ROG

April Ramblin'

2010-04-25T05:03:00.013-04:00

Fun Interpretation of the Google Books Settlement

What I love about my Bible study: we talk a LOT about current affairs. Part of the conversation recently, in reading the 23rd Psalm, was "What IS evil?' One of the examples I thought of was the deliberate misrepresentation of the truth with the intent to incite.

We also were distressed about the new Arizona immigration law Two thoughts on that. Remember the Sun City (video) album from the 1980s? Sun City was the resort town in South Africa, which, during apartheid came to symbolize the difference in conditions for blacks and whites. On that album was the song, Let Me See Your ID (video).

The other thing is that famous quote by theologian Martin Niemöller
"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."
Having been profiled one or twice (yeah, right), this really disturbs me.
***
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow: FOX News, GOP further 'the un-mooring of politics from fact' (video)
***
Gunn High School Sings Away Kansas Hate Group known as the Westboro Baptist Church (video).
***
The vengeance of Bernie Goldberg on the Daily Show (Link to video). I don't recall Goldberg being quite so wack when he was on CBS.
***
Plaque in honor of activist William Moore unveiled. He was a civil rights activist from around my hometown of Binghamton, NY, who was murdered in Alabama in 1963. The local branch of the Congress of Racial Equality, with which my father worked, was named after him. It even rhymed: The William L. Moore chapter of CORE.
***
Very soon, you can listen to the sounds of the cosmos yourself. All of the data from the SETI program will soon be available at setiQuest.org to download or play.
***
New national park quarters unveiled: U.S. Mint debuts designs for the first five coins in its America the Beautiful Quarters Program, which will honor 56 national parks. The rest will be released through 2021. I probably WON'T collect them; still haven't found most of the 2009 quarters.
***
MAD Artist Jack Davis’ Illustrations of NBC’s 1965-66 Season for TV Guide is really cool, especially if you remember the shows, which I do.
***
Angelina Jolie is in the summer movie I can't wait to see, Salt, which was filmed in part in Albany, NY. The filming caused massive traffic delays for days.
***
Siren's Crush Receives Rave Reviews from NAMM (short video). This is my niece's group; Rebecca is the brunette female.
***
My friend Deborah, who I met in 1977 in Manhattan, and who's been living in France for the past quarter century, recently bought a beautiful old stone house in Brittany with a plan of partly financing the loan by renting it out as a holiday home.

The Kan ar Vouac'h website and its listing on VRBO are finally done, and she's hoping to be putting the final touches on buying the final necessaries over the month of May.

I'm told it's a lovely and reasonable place to stay in Brittany.
***
Retiree Bathtub Test

During a visit to my doctor, I asked him, "How do you determine whether or not a retiree should be put in an old age home?"

"Well," he said, "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the retiree and ask him or her to empty the bathtub"

"Oh, I understand," I said. "A normal person would use the bucket because it is bigger than the spoon or the teacup."

"No" he said. "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window?”

ROG

Public Figure Punishment and Race

2010-04-24T05:18:00.001-04:00

As you may have heard, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who helped his team win the Super Bowl a couple times, will be suspended the first six games of the 16-game season for "violating the NFL's personal conduct policy." The punishment, handed down by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, involved "a 20-year-old college student who accused him of sexually assaulting her in a Georgia nightclub in March." The district attorney declined to prosecute, fearing he could not make his case, but he spoke in rather damning terms at a press conference HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE. I didn't to the whole thing, maybe 10 of the 40 minutes, but it was enough. This is not the first time allegations about Ben's sexual improprieties have surfaced.

What surprised me, but should not have, is this barrage of comments suggesting that he fared better or fared worse because he is white. Just Google Roethlisberger race. Some people complained that Michael Vick, dog killer, got only a two-game suspension; however, he also went to jail.

1. Is the punishment adequate, too much or too little?
2. What does race have to do with it, if anything?
3. Should Ben get traded to another team? CAN he get traded?
4. Does the NFL Commissioner have too much authority as "judge, jury and executioner", as one pundit called it? In other sports, there is an appeals process, but the only appeal to the NFL Commissioner is to the NFL Commissioner.

My thoughts: it's a judgment call, it got the QB's attention, but I wish action had been taken on some of these earlier incidents; much ado about not much, but race still gets infused in EVERYTHING; another team would be crazy to take him; yes.

--ROG

The Copyright Law Is A Ass

2010-04-23T05:13:00.001-04:00

Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution, known as the Copyright Clause, the Copyright and Patent Clause (or Patent and Copyright Clause), the Intellectual Property Clause and the Progress Clause, empowers the United States Congress:
“ To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

Note the word "limited".

The current law says that copyright is for the "life of the author plus 70 years and for works of corporate authorship to 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever endpoint is earlier. Copyright protection for works published prior to January 1, 1978, was increased by 20 years to a total of 95 years from their publication date."

I'd like to say that the continuing extensions of the copyright law is unconstitutional. I'd LIKE to say that, but I can't, because the Supreme Court ruled otherwise in 2003.

To be fair, this law is more or less consistent with the Berne convention, signed by the United States in 1988

But in a more fundamental way, there seems to be a gross lack of understanding about copyright generally. Copyright protection is not an absolute. People can use other people's copyrighted materials all the time through fair use, use in reviews, parody.

An interesting take on copyright comes from Paul Rapp, intellectual property lawyer from around these parts. He is also F. Lee Harvey Blotto, drummer of the almost legendary band Blotto.

Web portals like YouTube are protected by the "safe harbor" provisions of a law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which says that YouTube generally doesn’t have to actively monitor what’s being posted on its site. Once the portal is informed that there’s infringing stuff posted, it has a duty to investigate and take down offending material. This merely reaffirms that it’s the copyright owners’ duty to police its copyright, not someone else’s. In other words, it’s Viacom’s job, not YouTube’s.

This makes perfect sense. Because often the copyright owner is fine that their stuff has been posted without permission. A few years ago I noticed that folks had posted Blotto’s old videos on YouTube. My reaction was "great, now I don’t have to do it." I’d been meaning to do it myself but was too lazy to figure out how. We wanted the videos up, for whatever promotional value they might bring. Somebody even posted "Lifeguard" under the heading "Worst 80’s Video Ever." It’s closing in on a quarter-million hits, and the comments are amazing. And I ain’t touchin’ it.

And I’m certainly not alone here. Lots of copyright owners turn a blind eye to "unauthorized" posts...

Several times a day someone sends me a YouTube link, usually of some old music video that’s brilliant, funny, or revealing, often all three at once. Does somebody own the copyrights to these things? Undoubtedly. Did they put them up themselves? Maybe, maybe not. And are they mad that their stuff’s on the internet? Probably not. They’re probably delighted.

So copyright, both in law and as a practical matter, is not as "obvious" or "simple" as it may appear.
***
And speaking of intellectual property gone awry, I think it's reprehensible that one company can "own" a patent on human genes and I was thrilled when the company Myriad lost a ruling over breast cancer-gene patents, a suit brought by the ACLU, plus the March of Dimes and a number of medical organizations.

ROG

Earth Day 2010

2010-04-22T05:07:00.004-04:00

It's been forty years since the first Earth Day. 40 years since I was on my knees Picking up over 1300 cigarette butts from the lawn of my high school, which has forever made me irritable about smokers using the ground as their ashtray. Hey, people, those filters don't break down very easily.

Since then, there have been very definite successes. Consumers increasingly have sought out products or services that promise to improve the environment. Well, sometimes. The Hummer, for instance, was initially unfathomably popular, then, done in by higher gas prices, became the poster child for wretched excess.

The Environmental Protection Agency was formed in 1970, under a Republican President, Richard Nixon, with William Ruckelshaus as its first head. In a recent wall Street Journal piece, Rucklehaus discusses what should happen next here.

(Nixon wasn't that bad a President, except for, you know, the war and Watergate. Ruckelshaus, BTW, was fired as Deputy Attorney General a result of the Watergate "Saturday Night Massacre"; here is his recent account of that event.)

But there continues to be a debate green or growth, as though one could not have both, that \environmentalism is somehow anathema to capitalism. As a business librarian, I just don't believe that is the case.

Much has been made of all the "green" jobs the Obama administration has promised that have not yet come to fruition. Thinking back to the Industrial Revolution, in some ways, it was more evolutionary in that the old ways didn't disappear overnight. Patience is required.

Meanwhile, we need to respect those canaries in the coal mine, those polar bears drifting on ice floes, those penguins that have to travel 25% further for food, the potential loss of species, not from natural selection, but rather from human activity.

Yet there are people who not only think that the earth's temperature rise is a naturally occurring phenomenon - I don't believe that, but people are allowed to disagree - but that the earth isn't warming at all. They take examples such as the especially snowy winter in parts of the United States as "proof". MY proof is this chart from NASA:

No, not every year is warmer than the last. But the trend line is clear. We ignore it, literally at our peril.

ROG

No, I'm NOT Doing Kill Your TV Week

2010-04-21T05:05:00.000-04:00

The annual tradition of encouraging people to forgo their television viewing is upon us again. Frankly, I had forgotten this until my wife sent an e-mail.

Have you thought about how much TV you have watched this year? I think you will be surprised to see the statistics on this web site. For example the number of hours the average youth spends watching TV in a year is 1500 hours! YIKES!

National Turn off the TV week begins today. See if you can challenge yourself and your children to "turn off" to TV and "turn on" to reading!

This is all well and good. The problem is this: I LIKE TV. I don't get to watch it all that often, sharing it with The Wife and the Daughter. Not that the Daughter watches it all that much either. She watches maybe 15 minutes in the morning, when she's getting her hair done, then less than a half hour at night when she takes her medicines, including using her nebulizer. The average youth may watch over 1500 hours a year, but our youth sees less than 300. And all of it, on PBS Kids and Nick, Jr. with some legitimate educational content; I'm actually all right with that. In fact, in honor of Earth Day, Nick, Jr. is going to have a series of new shows on the topic which I had recorded for her.

So when the Wife came home Monday night and said to the Daughter, "Hey, how would you like it if I read you a story while you nebulize instead of watching TV," and the Daughter frowned and said, "I don't want to do that," I was a bit sympathetic to the Daughter. I told the Wife that she had to sell the concept. So, a half hour later, AFTER I HAD WATCHED THE NEWS, BTW, the Wife repeated what she said before. The Daughter said, "Daddy doesn't want to stop watching his news, does he?" Well, no, actually he does not.

By "selling it", I mean to find the key to MOTIVATE the Daughter not to want to watch TV. There was this article a book review, really, in TIME magazine a couple months ago. Regarding Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, the piece begins: "Whether you're a manager, a parent or a civic leader, getting people to change can be tricky business. In Switch, brothers Chip and Dan Heath--authors of the best-selling Made to Stick--survey efforts to shape human behavior in search of what works.

"Lesson No. 1: tell people what you want them to do in a way that will make intuitive sense to them." Not watching TV, rather out of the blue, made no sense to her. She was going to get a story anyway before bed. Perhaps discussing how others were also doing this across the country, aligned with some reward, might have worked.

Besides, since I watch very little in real time with the DVR - even the news is taped - I don't really want to give it up myself. Does no TV mean that we just fill up the DVR and watch more NEXT week? The DVR's hovering around 50% full already.

In parenting, we really try to do the united front thing. But in this case, my heart simply wasn't in it.

ROG

N is for New Zealand

2010-04-20T05:01:00.007-04:00

I have not traveled extensively. I've been to about 30 US states. Outside of the country, I've only been to Canada, Mexico and Barbados, only the former more than once. So I get to "travel" through a number of blogs.

One of the blogs I visit is Nik Durga's Spatula Forum. Nik is "an American journalist who now lives in New Zealand with my kiwi wife and son." Somehow, this led me to http://amerinz.blogspot.com/. Arthur is another American expat living in New Zealand, of longer tenure, who writes: "I moved to New Zealand from Chicago in 1995 to be with my partner. I've worked in the printing and publishing industries for about twenty years." It's possible I found Arthur through Nik's appearance on Arthur's podcast, but I don't recall.

Regardless, Arthur celebrated the third anniversary of his podcast last month, March 28, to be precise. In honor of that, he posed 20 questions, for which he kindly also presented the answers, which people were supposed to send him in order to win a "Kiwi prize pack"; alas, I did not win. Being a tad librarianish, I decided to send along links with the answers, which was not required. It later occurred to me that those links could be the basis of THIS VERY blogpost.

The information will not be in the order that Arthur gave it, since his was intentionally all over the place chronologically.

The Waitangi Treaty was signed February 6, 1840. This "extends to the Natives of New Zealand Her royal protection, and imparts to them all the Rights and Privileges of British subjects."

The First_Taranaki War, fueled by a land dispute between the Maori and the Europeans,
began on March 17, 1860 and ended on March 18, 1861.

The New Zealand Cross was created on March 10, 1869, important "because New Zealand's local military were not eligible for the [British] Victoria Cross."

"New Zealand became the first self-governing nation in the world where women had won the right to vote" on September 19, 1893.

The Brunner mine disaster took place on March 26, 1896.

New Zealand achieved dominion status on September 26, 1907.

There are 453 New Zealand World War I memorials.

An agreement of Australian-New Zealand cooperation was signed in Canberra on January 21, 1944.

The Wahine Shipwreck disaster occurred on April 10, 1968.

The Homosexual Law Reform Act was signed on July 11, and went into effect August 8, 1986.

The first Kiwi to win an Academy Award took place in March 1994, the 21st in Los Angeles, when Anna Paquin was named Best Supporting Actress for "The Piano". Anna was born in Canada, but raised in New Zealand.

The Prostitution Reform Act was passed in 2003.

Nationwide elections in New Zealand are held every three years, "or earlier, should it be necessary." At this writing, the ruling party is New Zealand National Party and the leading opposition party is the New Zealand Labour Party.

There are about 13200 km from Chicago, IL US to Auckland, NZ.

As at Tuesday, 20 April 2010 at 02:58:46 am (local time), the estimated resident population of New Zealand was 4,364,669.

Most of the questions Arthur got from New Zealand History online, which celebrated its 11th anniversary last month.

ABC Wednesday

ROG

35 Questions Meme, Part Two

2010-04-19T05:13:00.001-04:00

Sunday Stealing, redux.

36. If you suddenly became single or are single, do you think you could last in a relationship for 12 months or more?

I'd like to think so. Probably.

37. Do you forgive or forget?

Forgive, usually; forget, seldom.

38. Do you trust people?

Probably less than I used to. That said, probably more than more people. I had the laptop in the hotel, and one of my sisters suggested that I lock it up somewhere; it would not have occurred to me.

39. What are you not looking forward to?

Painting the attic. It's HOT up there by fairly early in the day.

40. Do you get mad easily?

I don't think so. But when I do, it can be furious, so don't push it.

41. Tell us about the last time you were told you that you have pretty eyes.

I don't recall. There was this woman about 25 years ago.

42. Do you have strange dreams?

Oh, goodness YES. Sidebar: I gave up caffeinated soda on March 16 because I wasn't sleeping. More correctly, I was going to sleep, but I wasn't STAYING asleep. Then I prettyy much NEEDED the caffeine so that I didn't fall asleep at my desk.

So now, I still wake up in the middle of the night, but I roll over and go back to sleep. And all these latter-part-of-the-night dreams innvolve distorted versions of my childhood, and all sorts of mayhem that are so vivid, yet so ALMOST plausible that I have to recollect it and realize that it COULDN'T have happened.

43. Ever licked someone's cheek or forehead?

Undoubtedly, as some sort of torture.

44. Tell us about the last time you fell asleep in someone's arms.

As opposed to just cuddling, I suppose. It was probably the Wife, and I was probably ill.

45. When did you last play a game?

Uno, Saturday with the Daughter.

46. What do you have on you at all times?

My wedding ring.

47. Do you go out in public without getting all dressed up?

I'd do it more often, if i could get away with it.

48. Do you like fruity or minty gum?

Mint - spearmint.

49. Favourite musician or group?

Beatles.

50. Do you like anyone?

Define "like". I like quite a few people. Even love a few.

51. Favourite computer game?

Backgammon, except that when I play with someone, they often bail too early. Hearts with no real opponents I can at least finish.

52. First album you ever went and bought with your own money?

Beatles VI.

53. Think back five months ago, were you single?

No, and not 5 months before that either.

54. Do you believe in celebrating anniversaries?

Goodness, yes. Of all kinds.

55. Do you think someone is thinking about you right now?

How could they not?

56. Last thing you bought?

Lunch on Friday.

57. Are you a jealous person?

I tend not to be, though there have been moments in the past.

58. Does it take a lot to make you cry?

Not really. A beautiful piece of music can make me cry.

59. Do you have a friend of the opposite sex you can talk to?

Yes. Actually, for the longest time, about 90% of my best friends were female; now, it about 60%.

60. Have you ever had your heart-broken?

I mean, if you haven't, you are really lucky, I think.

61. Have you ever done something while drunk that you still cannot believe you did?

Back when I would drink in college, I was very flirtatious, but no, I don't believe

62. Is there anyone you secretly wish you could be spending your time with right now?

No secret. Myself. Don't get enough Roger time.

63. Do you text?

Generally not.

64. Do you wish someone would call or text you right now?

Sure, why not? And if they call me and I DON'T want to speak with him or her, well, that's what Caller ID is all about.

65. Is your life anything like it was a year ago?

Pretty much.

66. Go back one year on your blog. Leave us a link to your favorite post.

M is for Money.

67. You can only drink ONE liquid for the rest of your life, what is it?

Ginger ale.

68. Tell us about someone that you have lost contact with someone you wish you didn't.

There are so many people I manage to regain contact of, some of whom I had lost contact with. But there was this woman named Diane in college; actually mostly after college when I was still hanging out in New Paltz. We used to just talk, play board games and generally hang out. Totally platonic. Lost track of her. She isn't in the alumni directory that came out in 2006, can't find her in Google, and I wonder how she is, WHERE she is.

69. What is the last thing you said out loud?

Good night, sleep tight.

70. Will this year be better than last?

Difficult to say. Last year was pretty good.

ROG

The Health Report

2010-04-18T05:11:00.000-04:00

Had my physical this week. Other than too much weight (no surprise) and too high "bad " cholesterol, I'm OK. My last "annual" checkup was in November 2008. I took Lipitor for a couple months at the time, then forgot to get a blood test, which I needed to get befoe getting a refill, but forgot and let it slide. I'll do better this time.

Even before this, though, I made a major change. I had become, if not addicted, then habituated to caffeinated soda, usually diet. It had the annoying habit of allowing me to go to sleep, but then had me wake up in the middle of the night, brain on overload, unable to sleep. Then I "needed" a soda while I was at work lest I fall asleep at my desk. Vicious cycle. But when I last gave blood, on March 16, and my blood pressure upper number was 138 - it's always been between 110 and 125 - I becan to worry, and I quit the soda cold turkey. After about three days of utter exhaustion, I'm actually sleeping better.

I wonder if it was the soda, or merely SAD (seasonal affective disorder) that made me feel crazy in February. Someone said something that annoyed me greatly - and I had a right to be annoyed - but it seemed to have captured me for about a month, with me withdrawing from things, feeling melancholy and alone. It's passed, even before quitting the soda, but it was very peculiar.

Thus endeth "true confessions".
ROG

Privacy, identity

2010-04-17T05:19:00.000-04:00

My daughter went to the pedetrician she's seen since she was born last week for her annual physical. The ofice required proof of her insuance - it has not changed, but OK - and proof of identity for her or her parents.

This week, I went to see my primary care physician for MY annual physical doctor. I've had this doctor for over 15 years. The front staff know who I am. In fact, when he asked me for MY ID, the staffer said, almost giggling: "We KNOW who you are." I also prsented my insurance card, though it hadn't changed.

Now I understood it when I went to St. Peter's to get X-rays; I'm not exactly a regular.
***
A bit off topic, but it did get me to think about issue privacy and personal information. The type of info I hate giving up is the type I believe will harm me. For instance, one of my providers STILL uses my Social Security number as my patient identification. This makes me VERY nervous. And isn't that in violation of the HIPAA law?

Meanwhile, there are members of Congress complaining about the "invasive" Census. Frankly, I'm a bit disappointed that, with all the money being spent on it, they didn't ask for more.

Newspapers, when I write a letter to the editor, require my name, address, and phone number. But if I write to their blogs, I can hide under a pseudonym and say pretty much what I want. The blogger can block it, but still the conversation is far more incidiary than the print letters. I'm not sure that folks online shouldn't be subjected to the same rules of contact as their pen-and-paper cohorts.

***
The question: what issues of privacy do YOU worry about? Census, online transactions, the restaurant worker with your credit card ?

MLKing National Memorial

2010-04-16T05:09:00.003-04:00

As I've noted recently, this month marks the 42nd anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King. I remember the particulars of 4/4/1968 as much as I do 11/22/1963, for instance. I have recently elucidated about the importance of Dr. King in my social development.

I've only recently discovered a group that is "commemorating his life and work by creating a memorial in our nation's capital. The Washington, DC, Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial will honor his life and contributions to the world through non violent social change."

There is a website, mlkmemorialnews.org, that includes videos, photos, banners, and an opportunity to donate money to the creation of the memorial.

"After many years of fund raising, the memorial is only $14 million away from its $120 million goal."
***
Poll Finds Tea Party Anger Rooted in Issues of Class (NYT, 4/14)

The fierce animosity that Tea Party supporters harbor toward Washington and President Obama in particular is rooted in deep pessimism about the direction of the country and the conviction that the policies of the Obama administration are
disproportionately directed at helping the poor rather than the middle class or the rich, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Why is this absolutely unsurprising?

Interestingly, Dr. King's last efforts were not based on just racial equality, but on economic justice. But economic justice is like water on dry ground; it lifts ALL boats up.
***
Democracy Now! spoke to the mayor of my hometown yesterday, Binghamton's (NY) Matt Ryan. "He’s taken an unusual step to remind the city’s residents about the expanding costs of the wars. Early next week, the city of Binghamton plans to install a large digital 'cost of war' counter on the facade of City Hall. The counter will show that the residents of the city have already spent $138 million on the wars since 2001." More here.

This reminds me that MLK's opposition to the Vietnam war in 1967 was not exactly a popular move, either with the LBJ administration or with most civil rights leaders.
***
I got an message from an old high school chum. (Why is it that certain people you remember instantly, and others are...who is that again?)
He wrote: "I can remember a speech you gave one day in an assembly. The idea being that racial equality had to do with even more than having a black person star in a deodorant commercial (which at the time was progress!) It made an impact that lasted...you never know what will, do you?"

Boy, I wish I could remember the context of that speech...

ROG

Taxing day

2010-04-15T05:24:00.002-04:00

One of the things that my wife and I did a few years ago that has almost certainly saved our marriage was to get someone else to process our taxes. In the the first few years, we calculated them ourselves and it took FOR-EV-ER. Well at least in my mind. It made me cranky, and my crankiness made HER cranky.

In the years prior to us filing jointly, I had always filed a 1040-A or even a 1040-EZ. No muss, no fuss. There was also no calculating of itemized deduction. Compare this with calculating not only all of our charitable contributions but also using Schedule C to keep track of all of the expenses of the rental units in the two-family dwelling we lived in, and did NOT live in the next few years. My wife figured out most of this latter info, but still, it was torturous.

Worse, almost every year, we made some math error on our state and/or federal taxes and have to do an amended return, generally not in our favor.

Now, you might observe, "Hey, you could have gotten a tax reduction all those years you didn't itemize from all your contribution to your church and other organizations." This is no doubt true. Yet, it wasn't the reason I MADE the donations, so I did not care as much; still don't, actually. There's a friend of a friend who does some very good work for the poor and disenfranchised, and his organization deliberately is NOT eligible for a tax deduction. His philosophy is, and I tend to agree with it, that if you want to contribute, you should be doing it from the heart, not just for the write-off.

In the last few years, we have had an accountant do our taxes. We still have to gather the information, but it's a lot less onerous. Even since we sold the rental property, interestingly corresponding to the arrival of The Daughter, it's still worthwhile.

So, it was a bit of a shock to the system to get a letter from the IRS last month saying we owe $749 for the 2008 tax year. Seems that the IRS saw the line on The Wife's W-2 and thought there was $5000 being contributed by her employer for child care. In fact, the $5000 was HER contribution to child care on a flex spending account. However, the accountant did make ANOTHER mistake, so we DO owe some money. But the accountants are paying the penalty and interest. At the end of the day, we'll have our 2009 return pay for what we owe in 2008.

Still, all of this was MUCH less stressful for me than the DYI model.
ROG

The Confederacy? WTF

2010-04-14T05:15:00.000-04:00

OK, I was on the road and I somehow missed this: Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell proclaims Confederate History Month, for which he later (sort of) apologizes. The President of the United States (psst! he's BLACK, so OBVIOUSLY, he has a racist agenda) upbraids the governor for leaving slavery out of the equation. Certain right-wing pundits kvetch: "My God, they're talking about slavery AGAIN? Why can't they let it go?", oblivious to the inability of others to let go of a cause that one could reasonably consider sedition. There is an article in Salon which addresses this. I was particularly fond of this comment: "History has a peculiar habit of becoming revisionist drivel when it comes to culture & politics. Romanticized to the point of nausea, even dark days are brightened with an artificial hue."

The best discussion of this phenomenon appeared even before the McDonnell proclamation. Once more, I must point you to Bill Moyers while I still can; he's going off the air soon. Specifically, the show broadcast on the anniversary weekend of Martin Luther King's death, which reflected on his legacy.

"Two talented lawyers who've dedicated their careers to fighting inequality, Michelle Alexander and Bryan Stevenson, join Bill Moyers on the JOURNAL to examine justice and injustice in America 42 years after King's death."

Specifically to this point about race in America:

BRYAN STEVENSON: Other countries that have confronted historic problems of racism and gross ethnic conflict have recognized that to overcome that, there has to be a period of truth and reconciliation. In South Africa, they had to go through truth and reconciliation. In Rwanda, there had to be truth and reconciliation. In this country, we've never had truth and we've never had reconciliation. And so, the day to day reality for the clients where I work, the people I work with is one that's still hurt, angry, broken.

I keep hoping for that "conversation about race" we've been promised, so we CAN "get over it." This seemed obviously to be great opportunity. Yet I've seen from more than one quarter that the idea about bringing up the slavery issue is merely liberals being (eye roll) "politically correct". Not to be confused with "historically correct", or "factually correct."

The lawyers make some other interesting points. Much of the conversation after Obama's election was that "we HAVE overcome", that the struggle with racism was over, something I always thought was a lot of bunk.

MICHELLE ALEXANDER:...I think individual black achievement today masks a disturbing, underlying racial reality. You know, to a significant extent...affirmative action, seeing African Americans...go to Harvard and Yale, become CEOs and corporate lawyers...causes us all to marvel what a long way we have come.

But...much of the data indicates that African Americans today, as a group, are not much better off than they were back in 1968. When Martin Luther King delivered his..."The Other America" speech.

And interesting observation about terrorism - and some, though by no means all of these groups who idealize the antebellum South, seem to be attracted to a violent fringe element in this country.

BRYAN STEVENSON:...older people come up to me, and they say, "Mr. Stevenson, I'm tired of hearing how we're talking about-- we're dealing with terrorism for the first time in our nation's history." They were antagonized by the rhetoric around 9/11. They would come up to me and they'd say, "Mr. Stevenson, I grew up with terrorism. We had to worry about being bombed. We had to worry about being lynched. We had to live in communities close to each other, because the threat of violence was constant...

Ms. Alexander has written a book about The New Jim Crow, not that dissimilar to the old Jim Crow.

MICHELLE ALEXANDER: ...just a couple decades after the collapse of the old Jim Crow system, a new system of racial control emerged in the United States. Today, people of color are targeted by law enforcement for relatively minor, nonviolent, often drug-related offenses. The types of crimes that occur all the time on college campuses, where drug use is open and notorious. That occur in middle class suburban communities without much notice, right?

Targeted, often at very young ages, for these relatively minor offenses. Arrested, branded felons, and then ushered into a parallel social universe, in which they can be denied the right to vote, automatically excluded from juries, and legally discriminated against in many of the ways in which African Americans were discriminated against during the Jim Crow era...

The Reagan Administration actually hired staff whose job it was to publicize crack babies, crack dealers in inner city communities, in the hope that these images would build public support for the drug war and persuade Congress to devote millions of more dollars to the war.

So that it was possible to convert the war from a rhetorical one into a literal one. It was part of a larger political strategy. And once the media became saturated and our public consciousness began to associate drug use and drug crime with African Americans, it's no surprise that law enforcement efforts became concentrated in communities defined by race as well.

BRYAN STEVENSON: The reality is, is that in poor communities, the police do raids all the time. I've worked in communities where the SWAT team comes and they put up a screen fence around the public housing project. They do searches. They stop people coming in and out. There are these presumptions of criminality that follow young men of color.

And whenever they're someplace they don't belong, they're stopped and they're targeted. And so-- and because you don't have the resources actually to create privacy and security, you're much more vulnerable to prosecution... we could do the same thing, but middle class communities, elite schools in this country would not tolerate drug raids from federal law enforcement officers and police. Even if there's drug use.

And so, there is this way in which resources and economic status actually makes you more vulnerable to criminal arrest and prosecution. And it becomes a self-fulfilling story. So that when I walk down the street in the wrong kinds of clothes, if I'm in the "wrong place," there's a presumption that I'm up to something criminal.

It goes on, but the point is that the "good old days" of the 1950s, or the 1850s, weren't that good for some. Certainly the antebellum South holds no warmth in my heart. The lawyers on Moyers also describe how poor and middle-class whites are manipulated to see blacks as, if not the enemy, then at least people to be suspicious of, a deliberate manipulation going back to Richard Nixon's "southern strategy", then perfected by Ronald Reagan. They argue that the huge growthin the prison population makes us less safe, not more.

I mention all of these other issues because I believe these aren't just individual events, bloopers of a thoughtless politician or pundit, but rather a pattern of racial insensitivity that needs to be continually looked at in the broader context.

ROG

M is for McFerrin

2010-04-13T04:57:00.012-04:00

"There is something almost superhuman about the range and technique of Bobby McFerrin," says Newsweek. "He sounds, by turns, like a blackbird, a Martian, an operatic soprano, a small child, and a bebop trumpet."

Back in the early 1980s, I had heard of this a capella singer who performed in the jazz mode, making near orchestral sounds with his voice and body, named Bobby McFerrin. I was familiar with him mostly because every album had a some pop music covers. [Here is a live cover version of the Beatles' Blackbird.]

Almost every season of the popular sitcom called Cosby Show had a different version of the theme to open the show. For Season 4 (1987-1988), the opening was performed by McFerrin.

In the summer of 1988, I was in San Diego, riding in the car of my sister's friend Donald, when I heard a song called "Don't Worry, Be Happy" for the first time. I thought, "That could be a big hit in southern California, but I don't know if anyone else will buy it." Of course, it hit the national charts on July 30, and went to #1 for two weeks, starting on September 30. (Here's one video, and this the video featuring McFerrin and Robin Williams.

Skip to in 1989, when he he formed a ten-person 'Voicestra' which he featured on his 1990 album Medicine Music. I happened to catch McFerrin and Voicestra one morning on NBC-TV's Today show. After a couple songs, I recall that Bryant Gumbel, then the co-host of the show, noted that McFerrin had said in an interview that he would no longer perform "Don't Worry, Be Happy", his only #1 hit, and that now he (Gumbel) understood why.
Sweet in the Morning from Medicine Music, featuring Voicestra.
Discipline, Featuring Robert McFerrin & Voicestra

I bought about a half dozen copies of that album to give as Christmas presents in 1990.

I was watching that episode with our brand-new new church choir director, Eric, who was crashing at our apartment until he found a place of his own. A couple years later, he arranged the McFerrin version of the 23rd Psalm for three guys in the choir to sing, Bob, Tim, and with me singing the highest part, all falsetto. On the recording, McFerrin sings all three vocal tracks, overdubbed, himself, which you can hear HERE.

McFerrin has also worked in collaboration with instrumental performers including pianists Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and Joe Zawinul, drummer Tony Williams, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma; this is Ma and McFerrin's version of Ave Maria.

My wife and I had the great good fortune to see bobby McFerrin live at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center on August 6, 1999. Here's the review, from which I want to highlight the following:

Whether conducting the classics, improvising on an original tune plucked from thin air or cavorting within the ranks of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the affable McFerrin charms all in his wake.

Finding descriptive labels for the multitalented McFerrin seems futile. His talent is so broad and diverse that there seems to be nothing he can't do well, including stand-up comedy. There's a serious side, too, as the wunderkind leads the likes of the Philly through compositions by major composers such as Sergei Prokofiev and Felix
Mendelssohn.

McFerrin's uncanny ability to do "voices" put the audience on the floor with
all the characters from "Oz," the most memorable of which was Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch line -- "Come here, my little pretty!"
[This was HYSTERICAL.]

McFerrin invited singers in the audience who knew the Bach-Gounod "Ave Maria" to sing along. McFerrin sang every note of Bach's rippling arpeggios for accompaniment, while several audience soloists sang Gounod's wonderful melody over the top.
[This was absolutely extraordinary. One of the soloists was only a few rows in front of us.]

The Philly sang (yes, sang) the "William Tell Overture," for encore.
{A hoot.]

Listen to CircleSong Six from the CircleSong album.

As an Amazon review says:
"Despite the undeniable uniqueness of his gift, Bobby's music is always accessible and inviting. When he invites his fans to sing along, as he almost always does, few can resist. Inclusiveness, play, and the universality of voices raised together in song are at the heart of Bobby's art. Bobby McFerrin was exposed to a multitude of musical genres during his youth--classical, R&B, jazz, pop and world musics. 'When you grow up with that hodgepodge of music, it just comes out. It was like growing up in a multilingual house,' he says. Bobby McFerrin continues to explore the musical universe, known and unknown."

A Bobby McFerrin discography.

Bobby McFerrin turned 60 on March 11, 2010.

ROG

ABC Wednesday

35 Questions Meme

2010-04-12T05:17:00.002-04:00

Before that, though, deaths to note. The crash that killed the Polish leader and more than seven dozen other leaders was tremendously sad for that country; I found it deeply affecting. The guy who was dean of my library school when I attended died of cancer. Dixie Carter also succumbed to cancer; yes, I DID watch Designing Women, initially because it was between Newhart and Cagney & Lacey, but eventually on its own merits. Finally, I think the only thing that will create real mine safety is if someone from the WV mining company gets indicted and convicted of 29 counts of manslaughter, and that mine owners continue to be be held criminally liable; obviously, even heavy fines are treated as just the cost of doing business.
***
Sunday Stealing, again.

1. How far away is the last person you kissed?

About a foot away.

2. Has someone ever told you they would be with you forever?

More than once; didn't always work out. To be fair, that was a mutual pledge.

3. Last person you were in a car with?

The Wife and Daughter.

4. Any plans for tomorrow?

Play racquetball, go to work, come home; same as today.

5. How long does it take for you to take a shower?

10 minutes. Less when I'm in a hurry.

6. Best friend or close friends?

Close friends.

7. Is tomorrow going to be a good day?

Sure, why not?

8. Did you kiss anyone Friday?

I'm sure I did.

9. Ever thrown up in public?

Well, yes, actually, twice. The first time I remember quite vividly. I was at a party in my college town of New Paltz, NY and everyone, including me, was drinking. I was consuming a large amount of this Polish vodka, and I was really quite lucid. In fact, I had become the de facto host of the party because the host had passed out. The Polish vodka ran out, so I started drinking some Johnny Walker. In five minutes I went from sober to smashed - a late-arriving guest confirmed that he thought I was clear-headed only minutes earlier - to sick, fortunately in the bathroom. Lesson learned: don't mix drinks.

The other time, I had some flu or food poisoning. I had had a drink or two, but hardly enough to get sick. I always felt badly, though, because my friends Jean and Rich probably thought I was just drinking too much.

10. What's on your mind RIGHT NOW?

Baseball. Or sex. Or sleep. Or money. Wait, music.

11. Who was the last person you talked to?

The Wife.

12. What is the WORST subject they teach at school?

I don't know that there's a "worst" subject. There are things that I am more or less interested in.

13. Have you seen anyone lately that you don't get along with?

Not in person.

14. What is your favourite colour top to wear?

Blue. I have more blue shirts than any other.

15. Have you ever been in a car accident?

At least two that involved medical attention, one which put me in the hospital for a day and a half. Plus the bike avoiding the car thing. And a handful of lesser events.

16. What's the closest thing to you that's green?

When your name is green, your mother's, sisters', wife's, daughter's niece's names are all Green, so it is difficult to say. Oh, lower-case green: An ancient book called Play the Game: The Book of Sport that I used to read as a kid.

17. Where would you like to be right now?

On vacation. I just WAS on vacation.

18. Write down some lyrics to the song you're listening to?

Love is just like a baseball game
Three strikes you’re out

Up to bat
I thought I hit a love run
But to my surprise
I found I didn’t hit none

Threw her love so fast
She put me in a daze
Never knew that love
Could come so many ways

(Here's a recording.)

19. How many dogs do you have?

Zero. Haven't had one in decades.

20. Is anything bugging you right now?

Yes. Fred Phelps' "church", among other things.

21. Is life going right for you now?

It's more than tolerable. But I have a physical tomorrow, so we'll see.

22. Is there someone you care about more than yourself?

Yes.

23. What made you laugh today?

The Daughter: something she said.

24. What was the last movie you watched?

Crazy Heart.

25. Whats the last conversation you had about?

Housecleaning.

26. What were you doing at 7:00 this morning?

Will be getting ready for work.

27. Do you like your hair long or short?

What hair?

28. Do you want to see somebody right now?

If I had the power of teleporting, I'd use it a lot.

29. Do you like the rain?

In moderation.

30. Did you have a valentine this year?

Why, yes.

31. The last person you kissed needs you at 3 am, would you go?

Why not?

32. Would you honestly say you'd risk your life for someone else?

Yes.

33. Honestly, if you could go back 1 month and change something would you?

Not so much. Well, actually, if you said TWO months ago, then the answer would be yes.

34. How do you feel about boys smoking?

I hate smoking, no matter who is doing it.

35. Could you see yourself with someone forever?

I have my hopes.

ROG

Family History and the Census

2010-04-11T05:06:00.001-04:00

One of the great things I've been doing, particularly this week, has been working on our family history with my sisters. We discovered some anomalies in the information we have looked at.

My grandmother, Gertrude Yates, was born in 1897. Her father, Edward Yates, died in 1911. Her maternal grandfather, James Archer, died in 1912. In the 1920 Census, we discovered that Gert's widowed grandmother, Harriet, had living with her formerly widowed daughter, Lillian, Lillian's four children by Edward Yates, and her new husband, a gentleman named Maurice Holland. It's this guy who caught my eye.

Now in the 1910 Census, Maurice Holland came from Texas, but in 1920 he came from Mexico, and his first name was Mauricio. This suggests but one thing: he lied in one of these Censuses, probably 1910.

Up until the last half dozen Censuses, the Census taker would record all the information, rather than having individual householders do so. Sometimes, the Census taker did it incorrectly. Listed in 1920:
Harriet Archer (head)
Maurcio Holland (son-in-law)
Lillian Holland (wife)
Gertrude Yates (daughter)
Edward Yates (son)
Earnest Yates (son)
Adina Yates (daughter)

It should have had Lillian as daughter of Harriet, and the children as grandchildren of Harriet. As is stands, it appears that Lillian was Harriet's wife. I'm fairly sure same-sex marriage was not counted in 1920. Also Earnest should have been Ernest and Adina, Adenia.

From looking at the family Bible, it appears that my mother may have had a sibling, who died in 1929. With no date of birth given, one has to assume that the child died in infancy, maybe at birth. My mother knew nothing of this.

In the 1910 Census, my grandmother Gertrude Yates was listed as Gertrude Archie, a variation on the family surname. What was THAT all about?

Relatives I checked for the 1870 and 1880 Census had the children (Lillian and her siblings) whose births changed 10 years over the decade, as they should, but the adults, James and Harriet Archer, aging only about six years over the period.

My great-great-great-great grandmother's name was Phylisia Wargner. Or Phyllis Waggoner. Or other variations such as Wagner. She was born on April 3, 1807 and died on July 8, 1865. She married William Edward Bell on March 2, 1832. These are the oldest ancestors I could find so far. From Census records, I can tell that Harriet was born in Virginia, and her parents were as well, but that they didn't know where their parents were born, which suggests slave trade.

I have been watching this show called Who Do They Think They Are?, a genealogy show on NBC. They do a search for the personal histories of celebrities. So far Emmitt Smith found his slave roots; Matthew Broderick discovered ancestors who served in the Civil War at Gettysburg, dying the following year in Georgia, and as a medic in a bloody World War I battle; and co-executive producer Lisa Kudrow found the place where her grandmother died during the Holocaust, but found alive a cousin who had initially brought the news. I'm finding it interesting but irritating. There's too much "Coming up next" before the commercials, as though it weren't interesting enough to stick around for, and too much recapitulation after the ads, as though we all have ADHD. I've seen similar shows, on PBS and elsewhere, but this particular program seems to have has rekindled this search for my roots.

ROG

Rooting QUESTIONS

2010-04-10T05:07:00.001-04:00

As some of you know, the men's college basketball tournament, known as March Madness, ended on Monday, with traditional powerhouse Duke barely beating Butler. I was pulling for the team from Indianapolis, and not just because it was the underdog. A small piece was the bulldog mascot; my high school teams were the Bulldogs. A greater factor, though, is that there's a woman in my choir. Every year, during prayer concerns, she talks about her alma mater's progress in the tournament. Given the fact that she lost one son, her husband (also a Butler alum) and her other son to various illnesses in the past two years, I was pulling for the team for her sake; alas, it was not to be.

Whereas I'm not fond of Duke. Though they'd not dominated the tournament recently as they did, I developed a dislike for the team not unlike how some baseball fans HATE the New York Yankees.

Now there are teams I dislike for a period. College football was dominated by teams from Florida for a time, and often there was a certain thuggery in the teams, but they're not as dominant now, so not an issue.

I used to hate the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1960s because they beat the Yankees in the 1963 World Series, a team my father LOVED because the Brooklyn Dodgers played Jackie Robinson. But my Dodger disdain has passed.

In fact, the only franchise I really can't stand are the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. Started off with the Cowboys beating the NY Giants in the 1960s, but it's more about the "America's team" moniker, something *I* never voted on.

Since it's a new baseball season, I thought I'd ask - what teams do you really dislike, and why? What players can you just not stand?
***
Singer/songwriter Tom Lehrer measures his birthdays in Celsius.
***
John Forsythe died while I was away. I remember him best for two sitcoms. One was called Bachelor Father (1957-1962), where a wealthy attorney took care of his niece, whose parents were killed in a car accident. Niece tries to fix up uncle, who'd rather play the field. The other was The Powers That Be, where he played a clueless US Senator; great cast, short-lived (1992-1993), and deserved a better fate.

ROG

On the Road Again

2010-04-09T05:27:00.001-04:00

The family has been on a (delayed) road trip. We were scheduled to leave on Friday for Charlotte, NC to visit my mother, my sisters (including the one from San Diego) and my 19-y.o. niece. But I felt awful the previous Wednesday night: Chills, yet sweating; sore throat, and generally a desire never to leave my bed ever again. I wasn't that much better on Thursday. I felt marginally better on Friday, and I was willing to give travel a shot. The wife, conversely, thought I should actually try to get well before departing.

Random interesting things we experienced:

In Pulaski, VA McDonald's, after I had ordered lunch.
Employee #1: This salad seems warm!
Employee #2: Shhh1 Don't talk like that in front of the customers. Don't say stuff like that!
Employee #1:: I don't care! I'm always going to tell the truth!
(Does Employee #2 think I'm deaf? BTW, I thought the salad was fine, though I was ready to return it if it wasn't.)

Perkins' restaurant somewhere in central Pennsylvania: Poster for American Idol candidate Aaron Kelly; actually watched the results show (for first time in three years) to see if he survived; he did. But viewing reminded me why I HATE the AI results show; they just drag out the torture. i

Coolest water tower: in Mount Jackson, VA.

Worst traffic jam: northbound on I-77 Wednesday morning just north of Statesville, NC. 10 miles in 50 minutes. The worst part is that we could have missed it by exiting the highway and taking Route 21 for 20 miles.

In Walgreen's in Charlotte Tuesday night:
Customer: I didn't like what you said!
Employee: I didn't say anything.
Customer: You were pointing at my family, and...
Employee: I didn't say anything.
Customer: You are in customer service, you ought to know better.
Employee: I didn't...
Customer: I'm going to talk to the manager. Where's the manager?
Employee: Go right ahead. [Walks away.]
Customer: I'm going to tear this m*****f***in' place to the ground!
(We left a few minutes later with a degree of trepidation.)

Greatest annoyance about our hotel, the Drury in Charlotte: the smokers who stood six feet from the entrance, every day, so that one has to run the gauntlet to avoid the stench. The greatest pleasure about our hotel: the glass-sided elevator.

There were on the road, heading from from the Bluebird bus company in Alabama driving to Quebec five new school buses, one pulling a van ee assume carried the drivers down. The daughter asked what was on the buses, then repeated the phrase "Arretez aux signaux".

ROG

Getaway

2010-04-08T05:05:00.001-04:00

One of the things that is true of my wife: she is constitutionally incapable of doing that thing people call a "staycation." The idea that we'd stay home and, for instance, see the sites of Albany - tour the state Capitol or go up to the 42nd floor of the Corning Tower - tallest building between Montreal and New York City, I'm told, would likely not happen until whatever chores that needed to be done were done. Generally, that means that we don't always play as much as I want.

Early on in our marriage I realized this. It was in the days after 11 September 2001, and naturally the news was terribly depressing. I suggested that we go SOMEWHERE. She said, "We could stay home and go on vacation." We'd only been married a little over two years, but I'd known her for nine. I said something like, "You are constitutionally incapable of staying home without finding things that need to be done in the house. There are ALWAYS things to be done in the house." I insisted that we had to go SOMEWHERE ELSE.

It turned out that she had a gift certificate from before we were married to a bed and breakfast in Cherry Valley, NY, only about an hour's distance, but a world away from our lives. The place we went to had no TVs. It had some lovely shops. I'm not a shopper, because shopping tends to mean going to some megastore, but this kind of shopping was quite all right.

Two things occurred on that Columbus Day weekend I remember quite vividly. Carol's (and my) niece Markia was born - we got a phone call - and the war in Afghanistan began, which I heard on someone's radio. Re: the latter, you can get away for only so long, and sometimes not far enough away.

What reminded me of that was the past couple weekend trips. One was to the Mid-Hudson Valley, about an hour south of Albany. We stayed in a Holiday In Express in Poughkeepsie, attended a party, seeing some old friends, including one I hadn't seen since 1991, and generally had a great time. The other trip actually ended today, visiting my mom, sisters and niece in Charlotte, NC.

The difference is that, in each case, seeking Internet connectivity was a primary consideration. I used the Hotel Internet Guide, because, somehow, being connected has become just as important as price and location. What that says about me over the past nine years, I'm not sure.

ROG

Quizzery

2010-04-07T05:13:00.000-04:00

Something from Jaquandor whose birthday is September 26, same as my daddy's.

1. Never in my life have I been: to Asia. Or Africa. Or Europe. Or Australia. Or Antarctica. Or South America, though I came close.

2. The one person who can drive me nuts is: just one? OK, Pat Robertson.

3. High school: wasn't all that bad, eventually. I mean my friends and I were pariahs in my sophomore year because of our opposition to the Vietnam war. But by my junior year, that tended to be the more popular view. I was elected student government president that year and was a PITA to the principal, which was fun.

4. When I’m nervous: I feel like I need 16 hours of sleep.

5. The last song I listened to was: Roy Orbison's greatest hits album, his music of the 1950s and 1960s, not the later stuff, which I also own.

6. If I were to get married right now my best man/maid of honor: would be asking, "Why again?"

7. My hair is: pretty much gone; it's gray.

8. When I was 5: I was in the hospital with an uncontrollable bloody nose. That is where I saw a female doctor, and even then, that was a shock to the system.

9. Last Christmas: was fine. The child was happy.

10. I should be...: rich or famous, but probably not both.

11. When I look down I see: carpeting.

12. The happiest recent event was: something the choir sang well at church.

13. If I were a character on 'Friends' I would be: neurotic Ross.

14. By this time next year: I'd like to have lost some weight.

15. My current gripe is: There are people who actually believe Glenn Beck's "analysis" of anything.

16. I have a hard time understanding: the popularity of magazines, websites, et al. delineating the loves of demi-stars.

17. There’s this girl I know that: likes to recite the alphabet backwards.

18. If I won an award, the first person I would tell would be: The Wife. Followed by you. How's that for service! (Stolen response!)

19. Take my advice: Get a massage. You'll feel better.

20. The thing I want to buy: some day, one of those larger, stereophonic television contraptions.

21. If you visited the place I was born: You'd see flood damage from the 2006 flooding of the Susquehanna River around Binghamton, NY.

22. I plan to visit: my mother in Charlotte.

23. If you spent the night at my house: Wait, give me a moment. Got to get rid of the massive clutter in the guest room...

24. I’d stop my wedding if: I had to interview to be the JEOPARDY! head writer.

25. The world could do without: teabaggers.

26. I’d rather lick the belly of a cockroach than: watch FOX news.

27. Most recent thing I’ve bought myself: Corinne Bailey Rae's CD The Sea. Recommended.

28. Most recent thing someone else bought me: bunch o music for my birthday.

29. My favorite blonde is: Laura Linney.

30. My favorite brunette is: (other than my wife) Penelope Cruz (with HOF status for Sophia Loren).

31. My favorite red head is: Julianne Moore. I once had a dream about her, where I saved her from oncoming traffic, and she sent me videos of her movies.

32. My middle name is: Owen, just like Owen Marshall, Counselor-at-Law.

33. In the morning I: would rather stay in bed.

34. The animals I would like to see flying besides birds are: humans with jetpacks.

35. Once, at a bar: I got very drunk one one Long Island iced tea.

36. Last night I was: reading, sorting photos.

37. There’s this guy I know who: thinks way too much of himself.

38. If I was an animal I’d be: a bear, so I could hibernate in the winter.

39. A better name for me would be: there IS no better name for me.

40. Tomorrow I am: working on the family tree.

41. Tonight I am: tending to the child.

42. My birthday is: March 7, just like Anthony Armstrong-Jones, the former royal photographer who was married to one of the royals at one time. Complicated relationship, just like mine.

ROG

L is for Lincoln

2010-04-06T05:24:00.000-04:00

Most Americans probably know Abraham Lincoln better than any other President. He's the only one, other than John Kennedy, whose birth day (February 12, 1809) and date of death (April 15, 1865) I know by heart.

So why are historians endlessly fascinated by the 16th President to a degree that there are over 2500 biographies of the man? Maybe it's because the simple narrative of Honest Abe, born in a log cabin, who saw slavery as an issue worth fighting a Civil War over is instinctively such an incomplete narrative.

2009 was the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth, and there were a number of pieces on PBS (public broadcasting in the US) about the man shed new light on him for me, and possibly for you as well.

Bill Moyers discussed THE LINCOLN ANTHOLOGY: GREAT WRITERS ON HIS LIFE AND LEGACY FROM 1860 TO NOW is a collection of more than 90 authors from across the years who create a constantly evolving portrait of the man whose shadow keeps lengthening across our history.

Moyers also highlighted Lincoln through the eyes of critically acclaimed, veteran dance artist Bill T. Jones. "In a groundbreaking work of choreography called FONDLY DO WE HOPE...FERVENTLY DO WE PRAY, Jones reimagines a young Lincoln in his formative years through dance."

Jones said: "Lincoln was, in some people's mind, always Honest Abe on a pedestal, but Lincoln had a sexuality. Lincoln was a politician. In the debates, Lincoln is the one that said to Douglas that, no, I would never marry a black woman. But I don't — just because I don't want a black woman for a wife doesn't mean I must have her for a slave. And he even said, I'm not sure if all — if blacks and whites are equal, you know. But he said, people have the right to certain liberties. They have certain rights because they are in America. He was a man of his era."

Also, from a conversation with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.:

What made Lincoln such a unique president?

Lincoln had a tremendous capacity for personal growth – more than any other American President. He was essentially a man of his times, resolute in his belief in the inequality of the races. But within the cauldron of the Civil War, he began to see that there could not be a United States without freedom for the black man. He came to embrace blacks, particularly those that fought so valiantly for the Union, as fully deserving the basic human right of freedom. He was slow to the cause to be sure, but once he got there, he was unshakable. Now, we will never know how far he might have gone had he lived. That’s part of the mystique that still surrounds him: the question “what if?”

Why is Lincoln’s legacy so contested?

Because Lincoln is so closely identified with what it is to be American, everyone wants to claim him, to rewrite his story to satisfy their own particular needs. For my own people, it was important to imagine him as the Great Emancipator, the Moses who led us out of slavery. For others, it was Lincoln the humble man who rose to greatness, or Lincoln the great Commander, or Lincoln the martyr. Every generation since his death has conjured up their own Lincoln. There were many Lincolns — enough for people to love and hate.

That explanation of the third US President (of eight) to die in office, but but the first (of four) to be assassinated, resonates with me. We project onto Lincoln, who was only 56 when he died, who he was and who he might have become. This might explain the release just last month of the generally positively-reviewed novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. No, really.

Finally, this story retold in Living Water.

The Debt
When he was an attorney, Abraham Lincoln was once approached by a man who passionately insisted on bringing a suit for $2.50 against an impoverished debtor. Lincoln tried to discourage him, but the man was bent on revenge. When he saw that the man would not be put off, Lincoln agreed to take the case and asked for a legal fee of $10, which the plaintiff paid. Lincoln then gave half of the money to the defendant, who willingly confessed to the debt and paid the $2.50! But even more amazing than Lincoln's ingenuous settlement was the fact that the irate plaintiff was satisfied with it.*

More Lincoln photos here.

ABC Wednesday
The largest of over 100 places in the US named Lincoln is in Nebraska.

Roger Answers Your Questions, Jaquandor

2010-04-05T05:25:00.007-04:00

From the guy from Buffalo who does Byzantium Shores.

1. If they re-did the Jeopardy! eligibility rules so you could try out again, would you?

Quite possibly so. I feel ever so slightly jealous that they doubled the values a couple years after I was on. This doesn't mean I would have won $35,200 instead of $17,600 when I played, but it made me wonder. Of course, maybe I'd suck at the game now. Certainly, I'd go in the next three years, when I'd be 60, or not at all.

Somehow I feel like one of those baseball players who came along just before free agency.

2. In retrospect: Should Spitzer have resigned?

In retrospect, no, but that whole thing wasn't going down "in retrospect". It wasn't his sexual behavior that did him in, it was his hypocrisy. Truth is that he never had the patience to be governor; things he could have bullied people to do as Attorney General, with the force of law on his side, could not be achieved as Governor, where give and take is more the requirement.

No doubt that if he were not tainted, he might have continued to sound the alarm about the Wall Street fiasco, as he was working on as Attorney General. Equally true that Wall Street as happy to see him go. The truth of the matter is that I wish he had stayed as AG, but he would have had to resign that position as well, once the Customer Number Nine stuff came out.

I continue to be fascinated by sexual scandals in terms of who gets to stay in office and who has to go. I always thought that Bill Clinton got to stay because there was a general feeling that 1) he already had a reputation as a womanizer, so he didn't have the hypocrite label slapped on him (only the "liar" label) and 2) that the impeachment over sex, and lying about it, was an overreach for something that started off as an investigation of a land deal.

3. What the hell is going on with the Catholic Church? I mean, seriously: WTF?!

The church seems to continue to be tone deaf to the scandal. Some archbishop in New York State is attacking the attackers of the Pope, as though THEY were the problem instead of the pedophile priests and the system that protected them.

SamuraiFrog had a good post about this. The church
treated it as an "internal matter", fearing that somehow admitting it and exposing it would undermind its moral authority. Have they not learned from Watergate? It's the COVER UP that REALLY underminds their moral authority. If they'd gotten in front of this even 30 years ago - John Paul II became Pope in 1978 - then it would have been painful, yes, but not this drip-drip-drip of scandal.

Mr. Frog notes the fact that the church feels selectively persecuted/prosecuted for its religion, that other people did wrong things. OK, and the church also claims that its first Pope knew Jesus personally, which, I'd like to suggest, places it at a slightly higher standard.

The Catholic hierarchy for years has been blaming this problem on the United States' culture and society, as though it had been the "permissive" Americans who regularly ignore Papal dictates on issues such as birth control as the problem. Classic misdirection, but it did not "take", given the worldwide problem.

And the "it happened a long time ago - get over it" argument, not just on this issue, but any issue, such as institutional racism and sexism, has always irritated the crap out of me. Let me say it again: the persecutors oughtn't be able to say "Let's move on" without the adequate response of not only apologizing for the problem, but, to the degree possible, rectifying the problem. This is why the Armenians in Turkey are still, and rightly from my POV, kvetching about the 1915
genocide that the Turkish government still denies.

As someone who protected a priest who had victimized 200 boys, the former Cardinal Ratzinger has given new meaning to "papal bull".
***
Remember last month when I directed you to a link to my guest review for Trouble with Comics, then it went away? Well, as Bullwinkle J. Moose says, This time for sure!

ROG

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T04:55:00.005-04:00

One is supposed to associate Easter with life, resurrection. But I instinctively think of 4/4 as the date of death, specifically the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. Interestingly, the first Easter landing on 4/4 after MLK's assassination in 1968 didn't take place until 1999. Then, there's 2010, 2021, and then not until 2083, when I'll be 110. Gotta reframe here.

I also feel lousy (chills, sore throat), though better than a couple days ago, when I had to forgo the Maundy Thursday service, so that doesn't help. I need to go through the agony to get to the ecstasy, I suppose.

Easter is also discombobulated for me this year because I won't be at my church for it. One gets comfortable with one's own ritual, understandably. Working on getting to that Jacquie Lawson electronic card feeling. Or something like that.

In a sermon a few weeks ago, the guest preacher asked us to each think of the person we dislike the most. After considering Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck was the person I finally settled on. After a few seconds, she proclaimed, "Remember, God loves that person as much as He loves you!" Ouch, does that poke a finger in one's faith, perhaps.

One of the things I will miss is people from the congregation joining with the choir to sing Halleluhah! by Handel. So, in that tradition, Hallelujah Chorus by silent monks.

ROG

Binghamton, My Battered Hometown

2010-04-03T05:19:00.000-04:00

It was a year ago today when my hometown became the latest victim of seemingly random violence. I usually steer away from the phrase "senseless violence", because it gives the impression that violence is sensible. One can argue that it is necessary, such as in self-defense, but not that it's sensible.

In any case, I wrote this piece last year, and posted it elsewhere but I never actually posted it in THIS blog, to my surprise. So on the anniversary of the event here's what I wrote. The * is to an article link that no longer works.
***
I grew up on Gaines Street in Binghamton, NY's First Ward (or The Ward, as it was commonly referred to.) Gaines is a one-block street between Oak and Front Streets. When I walked to high school, I'd pass one house before heading south on Front Street. I'd go by the houses that were on my newspaper route a couple years earlier - the Evening and Sunday Press, back in the days when the city of 70,000 had two newspapers six days a week. Invariably, I'd look up Dickinson Street so see in the distance my elementary/junior high school, Daniel S. Dickinson. Then I'd go by the place I used to attend Bible study, followed closely by the American Civic Association, then turn right onto Main Street to get to Binghamton Central high School.

The ACA was not just a place I went by, though. My late father, Les Green, was active in the civil rights front and the Association was active in trying to bring different people together, so he had some relationship with the place, the specifics of which unfortunately escape me.

What I do remember, though, is the fact that my father, sister Leslie and I performed there at least once as the Green Family Singers, with a repertoire of folk, gospel and popular songs. More ingrained in my mind is the fact that in March of 1969, I had my 16th birthday party there. This was an extravagant act on the part of my parents, I thought, renting out the hall for my friends and me. (I specifically recall my father catching one couple making out in a closet.) I still remember some of the presents I received, including Judy Collins' Who Knows Where the Time Goes.

Then on April 3, 2009, the place of some very pleasant memories became the location of yet another batch of senseless violence. Reading the coverage was not an act of disengaged voyeurism; I walked those streets shown on the television, probably a thousand times or more. And my hometown, now a city of 45,000, with but one public high school that was for a time in lockdown that day, became, most awfully, the lead story on the evening news.

Reading the reports, I couldn't help noting that there are those who will always comment on a story to drive home their agenda. In the city's now single local paper's website*, along with expressions of sympathy, distress about the human condition, requests for more help for the mentally ill, and people on both sides of the gun control issue were xenophobic rants about immigration, as though that were the lesson to be learned. I happened across this list of recent mass killings - which I did not even have to look for - makes such a conclusion just bizarre to my mind.

I will save the whys for later. Right now, all I can do is grieve for my hometown in a way that words fail.
ROG

Theological QUESTIONS

2010-04-02T04:59:00.005-04:00

I was talking to my Jehovah's Witness buddy on the bus the other day. Frankly, I agree with him a lot more than not, and he certainly knows his Bible. So I was surprised that he thought that we were in the end times, that the things that are happening NOW suggest the Armageddon foretold in Revelation.

Having read the Epistles, I believe people have predicting the Lord was coming back at least since Saint Paul was on the earth (which, not incidentally, predates the writing of Revelation), that these particular circumstances (Israel as a nation, the United Nations as an entity that will try to create a one-world secular government in violation of God's will, and all the earthquakes, floods, etc. worldwide) are the signs of the End Times. Well, maybe. I'm of the school that "No one knows the day or time when the Lord comes", so you might as well live your lives loving each other, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and the like.

Meanwhile, the sermon at church on Sunday was useful in another way. I know there is evil in the world, but haven't attributed it to a personified devil, Satan, Lucifer, the accuser since I was a teenager. Apparently, most people don't; how else could we make devil's food cake, deviled eggs and buy Underwood deviled ham, with a little red devil character right on the can?

So, a couple of lighthearted questions for Good Friday:
1. How do you think the world ends? With a bang or a whimper? In lack certainty, so I don't really worry about it. I DO doubt that the UN will be the vehicle through which a one-government body will arise, if it ever does; it'd much more likely be via the multinational corporations pulling the strings than the US, Iran, Israel, China, and Russia all ceding authority to a controlling government.

2. Do you believe in a personified Devil? I don't. As a monotheist, which I am, if there is one God, then making "the Devil" like unto God seems wrong.

But what do YOU think?
***
And all he asks of us is we give each other love
- Marvin Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984)
God is Love, from the What's Goin' On album
Album version
Extended mix

ROG

CREATIVE PUNS FOR EDUCATED MINDS

2010-04-01T05:03:00.001-04:00

The Popsicles that my daughter eat have these puns on the stick. You can see the question, or at least most of it, on the handle, but you have to eat the treat in order to get the punchline. (EXAMPLE: What do you call a sleeping cow? A bulldozer.) These types of jokes the daughter doesn't quite get yet, but will probably be telling next year.

As I've noted before, I can be, I'm told, rather funny, but I can't tell a joke to save my life. And the only jokes I can remember have punchlines that are terrible puns, specifically this one, which, in spite of its title, is NOT "the world's funniest joke." (More groaners here and here.)

I'm sure someone - I'm guessing one of my sisters - sent these along, and far be it for me to let them go to waste. (For singers and musicians, Holy Week is hell week, of a sort).

1. The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4.. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.

6. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

8. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

9. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

12. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

13. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, "You stay here; I'll go on a head."

14. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

15. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: "Keep off the Grass."

16. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, "No change yet."

17. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

19. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

20. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

21. A backward poet writes inverse.

22. In democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.

23.&nb sp; When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

24. Don't join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects!

And Mark Evanier supplies even more of them
***
I was in the supermarket yesterday, and on the cover of People, Us weekly, InTouch, the National Enquirer amd a couple other publications near the checkout counter was the sad face of Sandra Bullock, and not because she just won the Oscar. I know she's the bigger star than Wyatt Earp, or whoever she's married to, but it seems unfair.

Anyway, this song by the Main Ingredient, featuring Cuba Gooding Sr., came to mind, appropriate for the day: Everybody Plays the Fool.

ROG

Bob & Dick

2010-03-31T04:58:00.002-04:00

I've noticed quite often that when someone, say, at church dies, who I might have known for a couple decades, they always have a back story revealed at the funeral I would not have imagined. Whereas the stories of public figures - actors, singers, and the like - are usually well-known to me.

So I was surprised that I was surprised to learn much more about Robert Culp, the actor who died last week at the age of 79. Not only was he a performer but also a writer and sometime director, often of the series on which he was performing at the time.

I knew Culp him best as Kelly Robinson on I Spy, partnering up with Bill Cosby's Alexander Scott. Cosby was a well-regarded young comedian, but known for his stand-up routines, not dramatic performances. Yet Sheldon Leonard gave him the job, Cosby got three Emmys in three years, and Cosby and Culp became good friends.

But what struck me when I get to Gordon's very nice obit of Robert Culp was this book cover of the Whitman novelization Message from Moscow by Brandon Keith (1966). I read this story at least a few times in my early teen years, but oddly I don't remember that much about it, except for one thing: the villain was quite literally "hoist by his own petard."

I Spy: I watched that show religiously for the three years it was on. I venture to say 90% of black Americans watched it, just like most black folk watched Nat King Cole's short-lived variety show a decade earlier. There just weren't that many opportunities to see people of color on the screen - and when you did, they were often in minor, often demeaning roles. I appreciated how both Culp and Cosby demanded that Cosby's race not be a centerpiece of the show. I may have to go to HULU and catch an episode or two to see if it is as good as I remember it.
***
I should mention the passing of Dick Giordano, whose ascension to the position of DC Comics' editor-in-chief corresponded to me starting at the comic book store FantaCo, in 1980. I wasn't a big DC fan, but I did find myself picking up more of their books in the decade or so he was in charge far more than in the period before. I have a vague recollection meeting him once very briefly at the San Diego Comic Con, and he didn't SEEM like a corporate stuffed shirt. I suspect that was because, most of all, he was an artist, specifically a quality inker, so he was inclined to try to undersand and appreciate the artist POV. A much better remembrance here.
***
Oh, and this is coincidentally related. My buddy Steve Bissette has been musing at length about Forgotten Comics Wars of the mid to late 1980s. Subtitled How Angry Freelancers Made It Possible for A New Mainstream Comics Era (Including Vertigo) to Exist, it is a very interesting take on an era when I was actively involved in the retail comics biz. I was going to compile the 12 parts once they were all released, but Mark Evanier, bless him, beat me to it. And ME notes: "That last installment has bittersweet meaning because of the recent passing of Dick Giordano, who was in the midst of the controversy."
ROG

K is for Kindergarten

2010-03-30T05:01:00.000-04:00

When my wife and I went to kindergarten in the 1950s (me) and 1960s (her), it was designed to acclimate us to going to school, learning how to be away from home, and an attempt to teach rudimentary things such as learning songs and telling time.

I still remember the Roman-numeraled clocks in my classroom, and the yellow rug that I, and a year later, my sister Leslie used to take our naps. In fact, I specifically remember once waking up at 11:45 a.m. and realizing that no one was there. I actually fell asleep at naptime, and Miss Cady let me sleep, knowing I would just get up and go home afterward. (If a teacher did that now, he or she almost certainly would be fired.)

The book pictured in this post above was/is actually a gift to my wife Carol from her family just before she actually went to kindergarten. The lead character in the book is coincidentally also named Carol.

But now my daughter is now in kindergarten, and it is far from the "children's garden" its name suggests. In the United States, it has evolved from that "transition from home to the commencement of more formal schooling" to the "first year of compulsory education." Where once kindergarten was where kids learned skills through creative play and social interaction," in half-day increments, it is now often the full-day entry level to the standard curriculum.

I mean, my daughter has HOMEWORK! Not just learn the numbers and letters, but adding numbers and combining letters to make words. It's far more rigorous than her mother and I experienced in the day.

There is this 87-page PDF from early in this century called Original Purpose and Development of Kindergarten in California, which addresses these issues

...kindergarten, inspired by precursor early childhood education concepts, included children from ages six and seven to as young as two and three. It sought to lead children gently “over the threshold of learning by the seductive charm of music, flowers, games, pictures, and curious objects.” Later, kindergarten was integrated into the first to 12th grade system, gradually and subtly changing its focus to emphasize emergent literacy and early academic skills. An apparent consequence was that the minimum entry age was raised several times to its current level. This philosophical divergence is still not fully resolved.

The daughter got a note home from school at the end of the semester, noting that she missed nine days from school, mostly for illness. We were informed that she won't pass into 1st grade if she misses more than 28 days for the year. Could she "fail" kindergarten? She IS graded on concepts such as "identifies sight words in text", "interprets data from graphs", and "communicates ideas, feelings and elements of design," and is doing well.

This is NOT her parents' kindergarten.

I'd write more, but I have to go help her with her homework now.

ABC Wednesday
ROG

Eight Ten Meme

2010-03-29T04:52:00.004-04:00

Sunday Stealing, yet again:

TEN TO START.

1. Are you single?
No, married.

2. Are you happy?
Sometimes. Not as much as I could be.

3. Are you bored?
Almost never. In fact, if I have something to read, I'm never bored, even waiting in line.

4. Are you naked?
Not currently.

5. Are you a blonde?
Actually I was for a very brief time when I was 2 or 3.

6. Are you moody?
Occasionally. OK, maybe more than occasionally. But usually I hide it well.

7. Are you a lover/hater?
Try to be/try not to be; doesn't always work.

8. Are you hot/cold?
I tend to be too cold a lot more than I'm too hot.

9. Are you Irish?
I don't know. Quite possibly.

10. Are you Asian?
Probably not.

TEN FACTS.

1. Name:
Roger Owen Green.

2. Nicknames:
Rog; beyond that, I tend to avoid them, or actively reject them outright.

3. Birth mark:
None that come to mind.

4. Hair color:
Gray.

5. Natural hair color:
Gray; I'm just not that vain about it.

6. Eye color:
Brown. Or bloodshot.

7. Height:
5'11 5/8"

8. Facebook Mood:
Never set it. Don't even know where to set it. Don't care.

9. Favorite color:
Blue. Or green.

10. One Place to Visit:
Paris, France. As opposed to Paris, Texas.

TEN THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE.

1. Do you believe in love at first sight?
No. Lust, yes.

2. Do you believe in soul mates?
You mean the notion that there is just one person out there among the seven billion for you? No.

3. Ah, a missing question, where we get to speculate on what was so personal that the blogger declined to note it.

4. Have you ever been hurt emotionally?
Oh, goodness yes.

5. Have you ever broken someone’s heart?
Undoubtedly. That Neil Young song is running through my mind, only love can break your heart.

6. Have you ever been cheated on?
Yes.

7. Have you ever liked someone and not told them?
More than once.

8. Are you afraid of commitment?
All things considered, I'm better in a committed relationship than not.

9. Who was the last person you hugged?
My daughter.

10. Who was the last person you kissed?
My wife.

TEN THIS OR THAT.

1. Love or lust?
Yes.

2. Ah, another missing question.

3. Cats or dogs?
Cats. My daughter is wary of dogs. Actually she's wary of cats too, but not as much.

4. A few best friends or many regular friends?
A few best friends.

5. Television or internet?
It was TV for SO long, but I find I watch less and less.

6. Chinese Or Indian?
This is in reference to? If it's food, Indian.

7. Wild night out or romantic night in?
Romantic. I just never was that wild.

8. Money or Happiness?
Money won't make you happy. Happiness.

9. Night or day?
Day, about 10:15 a.m. Hey, Joe Jackson's album Night and Day I haven't listened to for a while.

10. MSN or phone?
Phone.

TEN HAVE YOU EVER.

1. Been caught sneaking out?
No, but I was caught sneaking back in.

2. Been skinny dipping?
Yes. This question seems to show up in these things. A lot.

3. Stolen?
Gum when I was seven.

4. Bungee jumped?
No.

5. Lied to someone you liked?
In all likelihood. Wait - yes.

6. Finished an entire jaw breaker?
Have no idea.

8. Wanted an ex bf/gf back?
Actually have dated exes.

9. Cried because you lost a pet?
Yes. My cat Tiger got run over by a car when I was about 12.

10. Wanted to disappear?
And sometimes did.

TEN PREFERENCES IN A PARTNER.

1. Smile or eyes?
Eyes.

2. Light or dark hair?
Dark.

3. Hugs or kisses?
Hugs. well, if she's a really GOOD kisser...

4. Shorter or taller?
Shorter or the same.

5. Intelligence or attraction?
If not intelligent, not all that attractive.

6. Romantic or spontaneous?
Spontaneously romantic.

7. Funny or serious?
Meh. Both, at the right time.

8. Older or Younger?
Doesn't matter.

9. Outgoing or quiet?
Mix.

10. Sweet or Bad Ass?
Sweet.

TEN HAVE YOU’S.

1. Ever performed in front of a large crowd?
Define perform and large. Maybe 400 singing. About 700 acting. About 3000 when I was on JEOPARDY!

2. Ever done drugs?
Sure. I'm weaning myself from caffeine currently.

3. Ever been pregnant?
I never was one of those guys who said "we're pregnant"; that stuff bugs me. So, no.

5. Ever been on a cheer leading team?
No.

6. Ever Been on a dance team?
No, though I have danced n a performance a couple times.

7. Ever been on a sports team?
No, tried out, didn't make it.

8. Ever been in a drama play/production?
Several in high school, usually in small roles. Only three since then.

9. Ever owned a BMW, Mercedes Benz, Escalade, Hummer or Bentley?
No, and wouldn't own a Hummer.

10. Ever been in a rap video?
What? No.

TEN LASTS.

1. Last phone call you made:
To my wife.

2. Last person you hung out with:
My wife and daughter.

3. Last time a question was dropped.

4. Last time you worked:
Friday.

5. Last person you tackled:
My daughter.

6. Last person you IM’d:
n/a

8. Last person(s) you went to the movies with:
My wife

9. Last thing you missed:
A bus.

10. Last thing you ate:
A banana.

ROG

Was Jesus Homely?

2010-03-28T05:12:00.003-04:00

There was a piece in a Times Union blog written by high school student Allison Moss a few weeks ago, addressing the question "Was Jesus Gay?" This was based on something singer Elton John reportedly said. Well, Jesus Christ Superstar suggests that he (or He) was bisexual. Of course, as much as I adore JCSS, I never considered it theologically authoritative.

It was that question that prompted me to revisit the notion, "Was Jesus homely?" As I understand it, we really have no idea about the physical characteristics of Jesus. He was not depicted in art until decades after walking the earth. Looking in the Bible, there appears to be no description whatsoever, except an interpretation of Isaiah 53:2, which says, "He has no form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him". If this is in fact referring to Jesus, and the subsequent verses of the chapter are used in Messiah (Handel) as Jesus verses, then this Jesus fellow was rather plain-looking.

There's a lengthy Wikipedia description about the depictions of Jesus, which I don't treat as gospel either, but it IS interesting. My favorite section is on this point: "But when the pagan Celsus ridiculed the Christian religion for having an ugly God in about 180, Origen (d. 248) cited Psalm 45:3: 'Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, mighty one, with thy beauty and fairness.' Later the emphasis of leading Christian thinkers changed; Jerome (d. 420) and Augustine of Hippo (d. 430) argued that Jesus must have been ideally beautiful in face and body. For Augustine he was 'beautiful as a child, beautiful on earth, beautiful in heaven'." So humans, using their own sensibilities, created the appearance of Jesus in their own image of what he (or He) must have looked like. The beard and long hair was copped, ironically, from the image of competing "gods".

In other words, early depictions of Jesus suggested that He was plain-looking, but other religionists stuck their thumbs in their ears, wiggled their fingers, and chimed in a sing-songy voice, "Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah, nyah, nyah, your God is ugly!" So Christians made THEIR manifestation of God look more like OTHER people's manifestation of the gods. Given the Biblical directive way back in Genesis that God made humans in God's image, it seems as though people feel compelled to return the favor.

Moreover, He was probably short. How else does he evade the madding crowd that wants to throw him over a cliff?

So eventually, Jesus started looking, more or less, like this guy:

Theologically, it would make more sense to me if Jesus was less than handsome. It is now well documented that tall, handsome people fare better in social interactions than others. What would be the theological point if Jesus were physically appealing? One might ask if people were following Him for shallow reasons based on His countenance rather than for his message.

When images of "black Jesus" became popular four or five decades in some households, people were shocked, SHOCKED. "THAT'S not what Jesus looked like!" Maybe, maybe not. He probably looked more like that than this, given the geography:

I think this Time magazine cover is a fairly accurate representation of what Christ, and indeed Christianity, looks like; it depends on the point of view.

***
Yes, this is a rewrite of a post from six months ago. It just felt like a Holy week piece.

ROG

Changing the Rules in Sports QUESTION

2010-03-27T05:27:00.002-04:00

The NCAA Men's Basketball tournament is thinking about expanding from 65 teams to 96, which I happen to think is a terrible idea. The Wall Street Journal wrote a snarky article, Hey NCAA, No Need to Stop at 96 Possibly Expanding the Tournament by Nearly 50% Is a Cop-Out; Let's Let Everyone in,where they sarcastically suggest inviting "every one of the current 347 NCAA Division I schools. That's right: The Magnificent Three Hundred and Forty Seven. Catchy, right? It just rolls off the tongue...One school will be crowned
the champion, but everyone will be considered a 'winner.' The idea is to replicate the drama, energy and positivity of a third-grade gingerbread-house-making contest."

Meanwhile, the NFL has changed the rules regarding ties in the playoffs, which seems reasonably fair.

So what rule changes in sports would you like to see? How about:

Electronically-called balls and strikes in baseball?
Going back to the 6.0 scale in figure skating?
Actually calling traveling in NBA games?
(I'd say no, no and yes.)

ROG

The Lydster, Part 72: Lydia is Six

2010-03-26T04:59:00.012-04:00

Here are some things about the daughter that I think I'll remember forever, but fear that I will forget:

*She's 50 inches tall, weighs at least 65 pounds. I can still lift her, though I prefer the over-the-shoulder method of transportation.
*She's in kindergarten, going to school with the wife.
*I make her lunch four days out of five. She eats a cheese sandwich (sharp cheddar) on whole wheat bread, with the crust cut off. Every day. That's what she wants. She'll get carrot or celery sticks, fruit cup or apple sauce, pretzels or fig bars, and a juice.
*She has developed a bit of sweet tooth, but she'll eat yogurt as often as ice cream, and seem to find them each acceptable.
*Her favorite cereal used to be Cheerios, but when she tried Froot Loops when we visited my mom in Charlotte in June, that was the only cereal she'd eat for about six months. Lately, she's really into Life cereal.

*She was the fastest girl in her class this fall in the Apple Run, by a considerable margin.
*She dances to EVERYTHING - TV theme music, especially the outro. She's taking ballet once a week, and she likes to choreograph her parents.
*Her favorite show is Martha Speaks (PBS), about a talking dog, though she'll watch her Nick Jr. favorites such as the Backyardigans, Ni-hao Kailan, the Fresh Beat Band and the Wonder Pets.
*She hates it when I pretend I don't remember her name, or make a variation on it. Yet she often makes a variation of MY name or title, and THAT'S funny.
*She doesn't seem to have a single favorite book. Carol's reading the Little House on the Prairie books to her, while she prefers that I read the Dr. Seuss books or other texts. She can read Green eggs and Ham herself; we tend to take turns reading it.
*She's somewhat less shy than she was last year.
*She still covers her ears when she sees conflict on a TV show or movie.
*She's lost at least seven teeth; I believe she ahead of schedule. And she's gotten five back, four lower and one upper.
*Usually, I dress her in the morning and put on her pajamas at night, except Thursday night, which is my choir night.
*She's increasingly more helpful, putting away her clean clothes in the drawer. she also has this system to pick out her clothes for the week.
*We bought her trucks and blocks and other gender-neutral items, and she still is more a girly-girl than I would have anticipated. She likes pink and purple. Someone in Salon was fretting about her girly-girl daughter, who to be fair is even moreso than Lydia. Lydia will wear pants.
But I guess I don't fret about it. If she wants a Disney princess tent and sleeping bag for Christmas, I don't object. I may cringe a little on the inside, but she is who she is.

I love the girl.
ROG

March Ramblin'

2010-03-25T05:16:00.008-04:00

Anyone out there on Posterous? I had never heard of it until very recently. I posted something the other day via e-mail, because I could. One can also post a variety of other ways. I'm not seeing the need, but then again, I didn't get Twitter or Facebook initially either.
***
It's not coming out until May 25, but I'm looking forward to Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook by Bettye LaVette. This great singer who was in the Albany area recently - no, didn't get a chance to see her - is covering a bunch of songs, many that I know well. It has a definite Beatles tinge.
1. The Word (Beatles)
2. No Time To Live (Traffic)
3. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (Animals)
4. All My Love (Led Zeppelin)
5. Isn't It A Pity (George Harrison)
6. Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd)
7. It Don't Come Easy (Ringo Starr)
8. Maybe I'm Amazed (Paul McCartney)
9. Salt Of The Earth (Rolling Stones)
10. Nights In White Satin (Moody Blues)
11. Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad (Derek & the Dominoes)
12. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me (Elton John)
13. Love Reign O'er Me (The Who - live from the Kennedy Center Honors)

That last song, sung to Pete Townsend and Roger Daltry, seemed to have them in tears, especially Townsend.

Check out Bettye's website for her performances with Paul & Ringo, with Jon Bon Jovi, and her stellar Who cover.
***
SamuraiFrog informs me that there is a Soul Train YouTube channel, which is very cool.
***
I was listening to Les Brown this week. He had a big hit in the 1940s with Bizet Has His Day, an adaptation of Farandole from L'Arlésienne.
***
Ever get a song stuck in your head, but you CAN'T REMEMBER the title? This happened to me the other day. I called up a librarian friend who wasn't working that day. Then I called a violinist friend of mine; she knew the song I hummed, but couldn't remember what it was either. She called her sister, and she identified it as In The Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt, music by Edvard Grieg. Don't think you know this piece? I'll bet you do, especially if you play any of the three dozen versions from Duke Ellington, Erasure and ELO to Rick Wakeman and the Who. I'm rather partial to the ska version. Somehow, I have it in my mind that this music also inspired the Sugar Crisp commercial theme.
***
As a reaction to the Tea Baggers, there is now a Coffee Party. I'm only slightly conflicted in that I really like tea and really don't like coffee.
***
Have I mentioned lately that I really love Betty White? I'll even record Saturday Night Live on May 8, and I only watched it in 2008 for "Sarah Palin".
***
The greatest 9,331 movies of all time.
***
Is my cellphone frying my brain?
***
Don't know why I do that March Madness thing. This year's results have been worse than ever, thanks to the upsets. Yet I can still win.

For the games today and tomorrow:
I picked: Kansas over Michigan State.
Who's actually playing: Northern Iowa and Michigan State.
I'm rooting for: Northern Iowa. Their colors are purple and gold, just like my graduate school alma mater. What the heck; I hope they get to the Final Four. Go Panthers!

I picked: Georgetown over Ohio State.
Who's actually playing: Tennessee and Ohio State.
I'm rooting for: Tennessee. The leader in our group picked Ohio State to win the whole thing.

I picked: Syracuse over UTEP
Who's actually playing: Syracuse and Butler.
I'm rooting for: Syracuse, who I have going to the Final Four.

I picked: Pittsburgh over Kansas State.
Who's actually playing: Xavier and Kansas State.
I'm rooting for: Xavier.

I picked: Baylor over Villanova.
Who's actually playing: Baylor and St. Mary's.
I'm rooting for: Baylor, who I have in the Final Four.

I picked Louisville over Siena.
Who's actually playing: Duke and Purdue (yikes).
I'm rooting for: Purdue. Actually, I'm rooting against Duke every round.

I picked: West Virginia over New Mexico
Who's actually playing: West Virginia and Washington.
I'm rooting for: West Virginia, who I have winning the tournament over (oops) Kansas.

I picked: Kentucky over Cornell.
Who's actually playing: Kentucky and Cornell!
I'm rooting for: Kentucky on my sheet, the upstate New York team in my heart.

ROG

VIDEO REVIEW: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

2010-03-24T05:12:00.002-04:00

Here's an interesting experiment; go with your spouse and child to an elementary school gym, along with four dozen other elementary school kids and their parents to see a 2-D version of a 3-D movie based on a 30-page book. That's what we did a couple Friday nights ago as we viewed Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

I had no preconceived notions about this film. I hadn't read the book, first published in 1978, written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett. In fact I never even heard of it until the film was being promoted.

This iteration tells the story of Flint Lockwood, science nerd, whose mother (Lauren Graham) believes he'll be someone special; she dies early on, and his monosyllabic, unibrow fisherman-father (James Caan) believes in more practical efforts, wanting his son (Bill Hader) to work at the sardine store with him. Everyone on the island of Swallow Falls eats sardines.

Flint is tortured by an annoying character, Baby Brent (Andy Samburg), who was famous as the Gerber baby, and keeps milking his fame. (Independently, my wife and I thought he was very much like the character in the Back to the Future movies who kept harassing Marty McFly's father.)

Flint, undeterred from his dream, manages to invent a machine that converts water into food. Needing to hide his creativity from the local policeman (Mr. T), he accidentally launches it into the atmosphere. Instead of rain, food of every sort starts falling from the sky. This phenomenon inspires a television station to send a weather reporter trainee (Anna Faris) to cover the phenomenon.

I laughed out loud several times in the first half of the movie at lines that probably went right over the heads of the purported target audience. At least once, I swear I was the ONLY person laughing.

At some point, the movie becomes some illustrated cross between the movies Twister (which I saw) and 2012 (which I did not). This part was less interesting to me, though not without its charms, and frightened the daughter some to boot.

Still, I enjoyed the intelligently-made film overall, and it reviewed well enough. Within the film of writer-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were none-too-subtle digs at the food industry (processed foods with no connection to the source, a la Fast Food Nation), gluttony (see also: the latter part of WALL-E), environmental destruction, and sexism in the entertainment industry.

I finally got around to reading the book this week, and while there were nods to the source material (food as rafts, yellow Jell-O, and of course a spaghetti storm), the movie is a whole 'nother animal altogether. Friends of friends of mine who are devotees of the book often HATE the movie because it's not the book; I think the movie should be appreciated on the merits of what's on the screen, NOT based on how it is or is not true to the source material.
***
The movie trailer.

ROG

J is for JEOPARDY!

2010-03-23T05:19:00.017-04:00

For reasons I will explain later, this is my favorite Final JEOPARDY! answer- the category is SISTER CITIES: San Francisco, California is a sister city to this one in Italy.

I started watching the game show JEOPARDY! fairly early on. It started in 1964 as a noontime show on NBC-TV. Art Fleming was the host; you can see some of his 1970s work here. I would stop at the home of my maternal grandmother and great aunt Deana; Deana and I would watch the show while we ate lunch, which grandma Williams usually prepared, and then I would return to school. The show lasted for 11 years, and I probably watched it for the first four regularly, until I went to high school, and again as often as possible once I got to college in 1971.

It is the Fleming version of the show that shows up in the film Airplane 2 (about the only original bit in that movie sequel), and in the "Weird Al" Yankovic video I Lost on Jeopardy.

Then, after a short-lived version in 1978, JEOPARDY! returned in syndicated (non-network) television in 1984 with Alex Trebek as host. I recognized Trebek from a game called High Rollers, which involved answering a couple questions then using these oversized pair of dice.

The other thing that was different from the original game, is that the values of clues had increased tenfold, from $10-$50 in JEOPARDY! (and twice that in Double JEOPARDY!) to $100-$500 in JEOPARDY! (The values doubled in the beginning of Season 19, in the fall of 2002, to $200-$1000 in JEOPARDY!) Not incidentally, in the current game, "the minimum wager on a Daily Double is $5, which was half the smallest clue value on the original version of Jeopardy! that premiered in 1964 with Art Fleming as host."

I always love the story about the creation of JEOPARDY! After the game show scandals of the 1950s, where certain players were leaked the answers, rigging the results, the late entertainer Merv Griffin was having a meal with his then-wife. He was musing about how he could put together a show in that atmosphere of distrust. She suggested giving the contestants the answers. He said something equivalent to "Are you crazy? That's been the problem!" She responded, "5280"; he said, "What is the number of feet in a mile?" The ah-ha moment arrived.

Merv Griffin also wrote the Think Music that plays for thirty seconds while the contestants are writing down their Final JEOPARDY! responses.

***
Oh, that question at the top: What I loved about it is that, obviously, the JEOPARDY! folks wouldn't expect you to KNOW San Francisco's Italian sister city. So there must be some linkage between SF and one city in Italy. And I figured it out. Any guesses?
***

One of the things people occasionally ask me when they try out for the game show JEOPARDY! is what sources they should use. Sure, there's the official JEOPARDY! site. But THE most valuable tool, I think, is the JEOPARDY! archive, specifically the help function.

Some intrepid JEOPARDY! fans have gotten together to archive almost every show in the past 13 years, and have captured some earlier episodes as well. If one can't watch the show, then reading the answers and questions will help prepare you for playing. There is also information about wagering, a LOT of info I think, other than general knowledge, waging is the most important aspect in the game. The site even describes the episode on the TV show Cheers when postman Cliff Clavin was on JEOPARDY!, had an insurmountable lead and still managed to lose.

Karl Coryat, a two-day champion back in 1996, has some good tips for what to study: "...there are a few things you absolutely must know. These are, in order of importance: State and world capitals; U.S. presidents (order, years of office, and general biographies); state nicknames; and Shakespeare's plays, including basic plot lines and major characters." I might have put Presidents first, but I don't disagree with his general premise.

"Prior to a rule change that went into effect at the beginning of the 20th Season [2003-2004], a champion could win a maximum of 5 games, whereupon he/she would retire and later return for the next Tournament of Champions." It was the rule change that allowed Ken Jennings to win 74 games in a row. It was great for Jennings, but I'm still not convinced it was great for JEOPARDY! The Tournament that year, instead of having a bunch of 5-time champions, and maybe one or two 4-timers, actually had a 3-day champ, diluting the process.

One variation on JEOPARDY! you may or may not remember was called Rock & Roll Jeopardy. It ran from 1998 to 2001 on VH-1 and was hosted by Jeff Probst, who would later host a reality show called Survivor. I thought it was a lesser program, in large part because, for most of its run, one played for "points" rather than dollars, with the person with the most points getting $5,000.

You can read about my JEOPARDY appearances here; the Boston shows in 1998 were the first non-tournament games ever played outside the Los Angeles-area studio. I only discovered recently that I had the second highest one-game dollar amount in the 1998-1999 season.

***
The question: What is Assisi? San Francisco is named for Saint Francis of Assisi.

ABC Wednesday

ROG

Judd's Merged Meme

2010-03-22T05:04:00.000-04:00

Sunday Stealing again

1. What were doing 10 years ago?

In the process of buying the home we now live in; the closing was May 8.

2. Five snacks that you enjoy in a perfect, non weight-gaining world

Banana splits
Oatmeal-raisin cookies
Strawberry milk shakes, the real kind, not the McDonald's kind
Carrot cake
Apple pie with vanilla ice cream

3. Five things you would do if you were a billionaire:

Pay off the mortgages for my mother, sister and brothers-in-law. Oh yeah, and ours.
Buy a building for the local food pantry.
Keep open the local YMCA that's closing on March 31.
Give $1000 each, maybe to a whole bunch of arts/music related entities.
I suppose I'd buy a house with an in-house theater, although renting out the local theater from time to time seems just so much more fun!

4. Three of your habits:

Overanalyzing
Avoiding talks about money; they tend to give me a headache
Blogging

5. Five jobs that you've have had:

Janitor (twice)
Bookkeeper/operator of an Artisans arcade
Manager of a comic book store
Customer service representative for an evil health insurance company
Ticket seller for college concerts

6. Five places that you've lived:

Binghamton, NY
Kingston, NY
New Paltz, NY
Jamaica (Queens), NY
Charlotte, NC

7. Five things that you did yesterday:

Went to church
Worked on my blog
Watched taped television news
Worked on the daughter's homework
Made the daughter's lunch for today

8. Five people you would want to get to know more about:

Bill Moyers
Joel Whitburn
Miriam Makeba
Peter Gomes
Jesus - especially that 18-year gap between hanging out at the temple when he was 12 and the beginning of his ministry

9. Abortion: for or against it?

I seriously doubt that most people are FOR abortion. I believe it was one of the Clintons who said "safe, legal and rare."

10. Do you think the world would fail with a female president?

Do you think the world isn't failing already? The number of female heads of state in other countries makes the dearth in the United States all the more embarrassing.

11. Do you believe in the death penalty?

No. Besides the inequity of its application by race and class, and the very real probability that innocent people have been executed in this country, there's another reason. It's Biblical interpretation that my Jehovah's Witness buddy talks about. There's a commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." How is the state killing, and on my behalf, no less, acceptable?

12. Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already?

Taxed and regulated, yes.

13. Are you for or against premarital sex?

I'm in favor of consenting adults doing what they want.

14. Do you think same sex marriage should be legalized?

Yes. I may have mentioned this recently.

15. Do you think it's wrong that so many Hispanics are illegally moving to the USA?

I think it's more wrong that over the centuries, the US immigration policy has been so arbitrary, discriminating against certain ethnic groups. Besides, depending on the version of history you read, who are the real illegals?

16. Should the alcohol age be lowered to eighteen?

Probably. I mean, I drank when I was 18. The prohibition doesn't work, a number of college presidents suggest. In college, you have two different classes of people, and it's darn easy for a senior to buy a sophomore illegal booze. Better to have supervised settings.

17. Should the war in Iraq be called off?

The U.S. participation in the war in Iraq, at this point, will end sooner rather than later.

18. Assisted suicide is illegal: do you agree?

No, I don't. It happens anyway, you know. Doctors giving massive doses of morphine for "pain management." I'd rather it be above board and open, in a medical context.

19. Do you believe in spanking your children?

My father spanked us. My sisters and I have had a number of conversations about what it was we did to warrant it; we have no idea. (Except once.) It made us fearful, but it didn't make us better. So, generally not.

20. Do you worry that others will judge you from reading some of your answers?

That assumes 1) anyone actually reads what I say and 2) anyone cares. If so, no I don't worry. To quote the great philosopher Popeye: "I yam what I yam."

ROG

Springtime for Roger and Albany

2010-03-21T05:15:00.003-04:00

On a quarterly basis, I get REALLY lazy. I make my readers do all the heavy lifting in a little thing I like to call ask Roger Anything. Anything at all.

OK, don't ask me if there are any words that have the vowels A, E, I, O, U, and Y in order, he said facetiously.

But other than that, anything goes. And I have to answer, or you get double your money back.

Seriously, there has never been a question I was asked that I didn't, in some substantial way, answer. Sports, politics, religion - we take it all on.

Hmm. Do you know what I'm thinking about? The word "invalid", and how with the emphasis on the first syllable, it's a noun that means someone incapacitated by chronic illness or injury. But with the emphasis on the second syllable, it's an adjective meaning falsely based. They shatre a common root suggesting "npot strong", but I hate the notion that people are invaldated because of their physical condition.

Oh, and the death of Fess Parker, who played Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. Re: the former role, probably every other household in America with a child in it owned at least one coonskin cap.

Assuming I GET any questions, I'll start answering later in the week.

From the movie The Producers (1968). That slackjawed look at 2:35 is still one of my favorite moments in all of cinema.
ROG

Peevish QUESTION

2010-03-20T05:15:00.001-04:00

I wrote a little piece about pet peeves a little while ago. But I'm interested in asking you folks if there are things that really bug you, especially if you have not much to do with it. Maybe it's the political discourse that's distasteful.

I was at work helping someone with a question, and I rediscovered that there are a couple issues that really have been bugging me, and really are, in the end, none of my business. Though I will make a case for the idea that, at least the former issue is a public health issue and therefore everyone's concern.

Issue #1 is the huge number of Cesarean section births in the United States. From this document, the CDC notes that the C-section rate went up for the 11th straight year in 2006 up to 31.8%, the highest ever reported in the country. Lowering the rate was a governmental objective for the last quarter century. The mission actually seemed to be working for a while - the rate went from 22.8% in 1989 to 20.7% in 1996, but it's been going up ever since. The optimal rate is between 5% and 10%. The whys are varied, but it concerns me regardless. And it worries some in the medical community as well.

The other issue involves pregnant women smoking. I know that tobacco is addictive, but when I see it, it makes me crazy anyway. Low birth-weight babies are often the result.

So what issues that really don't affect you directly nevertheless gets on your nerves?

ROG

Putting the Rube in Boob Tube

2010-03-19T05:09:00.002-04:00

I am periodically reminded about why I hate reality television. This includes many of the so-called talk shows.

Someone I know very well was actually on a talk show some years ago on a panel, speaking about an important topic. Yet when the promos came out for the show, which was NOT Jerry Springer, but rather a JS-lite host, it was all about whatever elements made the topic controversial. As it was, my acquaintance hardly got in a word edgewise because other participants were far more aggressive. I had actually forgotten this, though I have the show on a VCR tape.

Then I got this e-mail this week from a group called Vitiligo Friends:

We are looking for 2 people---we are taping this March 25th in the morning:

1. A woman in her 30s to 40s who was either recently diagnosed or has had Vitiligo for years and has affected their lives. We are looking for someone who's face is pretty extreme and it has affected their lives in a negative way. They can't work because their Vitiligo has affected them, or they have issues dating and forming relationships. Is it holding them back? We need someone who has a severe enough case where makeup cannot be used. Please email XXX@yyy.com along with your name, age, location and photos.

2. A woman in her 30s to 40s who is a success story. We want someone who has tried either UV light therapy or topical creams and it has worked for them to be a success and inspiration story for others. This person should have an interesting back story as well and turned to these treatments to gain confidence.

Please email XXX@yyy.com along with your name, age, location and photos, including a before and after photo if possible.

This, BTW, is for the Dr. Oz show, the physician who Oprah has promoted.

Now why would anyone want to be person #1, subjecting himself or herself to be, essentially, the BEFORE picture in a BEFORE and AFTER photo? On national syndicated TV, no less.

Now there WAS a follow-up e-mail from the Dr. Oz folks, probably in reaction to the initial message: "We are looking to help someone with a more severe case of vitiligo--we have a specialist available who has a new cosmetic procedure out that could work for various people. We would love a woman in her 30s-40s who has tried some treatments and they haven't worked and now worries that her vitiligo will and is effecting her life in a negative way. We want this to be positive and to have a positive outcome for our guest."

Well, thank you for THAT. Positive outcome, you say.

These demi-stars end up having their lives parsed in a 24-hour media blitz, which needs to report on which Real Housewife of East Podunk is having a smackdown with another Real Housewife. Or whether someone appearing on The Bachelor once poised for sex magazines. Or whatever.

Whatever visceral pleasure one might get from watching this stuff - and I don't - I REALLY don't understand anyone who actually wants to APPEAR on most of these programs these days. And while I suppose I understand the appeal of 15 minutes of fame, I think that my overexposure to these folks that pop from one reality show to another, even in passing, makes the watching of same beyond my comprehension.

Even people who are arguably stars have difficulties with "reality", as SamuraiFrog notes, parsing Jessica Simpson's new show. Maybe it's the term "reality" in these unreal settings that's the biggest irritant of all.

ROG

the Experiment

2010-03-18T05:03:00.006-04:00

Usually, I try to write something comprehensive (and ideally, comprehensible) to post the next morning. I have maybe a half dozen things in draft form, not quite ready to go. So as a one-off experience, I have gotten up at 5:03 a.m., slightly foggy, and will write for 20 minutes, and post whatever at 5:30.
**
Doing the March Madness thing. For those not familiar, it's college basketball. I think the idea that, theoretically, ANY ONE of the 65 teams (well, 64 now), can win lends a sense of democracy to the proceedings. I have our local team, Siena, winning their first game, over Purdue, just as they won their first first game the last two years as an underdog. Still haven't finished my picks, though, tentatively, I have Kansas over Syracuse, west Virginia over Baylor, and because I believe WV got jobbed out of being a #12 seed, WV over Kansas. Anyone who actually FOLLOWS basketball with insights, please comment. SOON.
***
Gave blood on Tuesday, BP was uncharacteristically high for me. It's usually 100 to 120; that day, it was 138. What changed has been a habituation to caffeinated cola; I mean one a day, not multiples, but I've just stopped. Yesterday about 4:30 pm, I went to the bathroom and threw cold water on my face.
***
Anyone out there use that free wifi searcher from Makayama? I downloaded it, put it on my thumb drive, but couldn't get it to work on my laptop at home.
***
I was checking Dead or Alive this morning.
Knew Peter Graves died. He started on the second season of the show Mission: Impossible, and those two or three seasons with him, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, were among the best in television. He was also in my top three favorite comedy, Airplane!
Merlin Olson died. I never saw a single fill episode of Little House on the Prairie. I knew him as a football player for the LA Rams, back in the days that Los Angeles actually had a pro football team. I mean besides UCLA and USC.
Caroline McWilliams died last month, which I never noted here. I used to love her in Soap and Benson.
Corey Haim died, and I don't know that I ever saw him in anything.
***
Ah, nuts. Time's up
***
EDIT:
Roger Ebert on Glenn Beck and Beck's "I beg you, look for the words social justice or economic justice on your church web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can."
***
Bummer: Alex Chilton died at the age of 59.
ROG

No Salt

2010-03-17T05:00:00.003-04:00

New York Assemblyman Felix Ortiz has recently introduced a bill that would ban the use of salt in the preparation of restaurant food. I appreciate the import of a low-sodium diet, I must agree with virtually all of the comments that this is one of the dumbest, most overreaching pieces of legislation to come down the pike. Unenforceable, too. Chef secretly throws some substance in the pot - what was THAT?

Besides, it says here: Larousse Gastronomique insists that "seasoning includes a large or small amount of salt being added to a preparation. Salt may be used to draw out water, or to magnify a natural flavor of a food making it richer or more delicate, depending on the dish. This type of procedure is akin to curing." I can imagine that some foods would end up so unsatisfying that the customer might well use too much NaCl from the shaker.

What I DO favor, whenever possible, is for restaurants to indicate the nutritional breakdown. We have gone to both Friendly's, the Massachusetts restaurant chain, and McDonald's this month, and it was startling. The menu at Friendly's now indicates the calorie count on all its foods, much to the dismay of our waitress, who has noticed people deciding that the 1400-calorie banana split may just not be worth it. On the McDonald's food wrapper, not only are calories listed, but like any food you'd find on the grocery shelf or in a vending machine, it ALSO has information on protein, fat and sodium. And there seems to be a LOT of sodium.

Cutting back on salt wouldn't be such a bad thing. One can, for some items, season without salt. There are only two items that I actually add salt to: popcorn and chicken giblets. I should make sure I don't consume them at the same meal.
***
The Meatrix.

ROG

I is for Irish Migration

2010-03-16T05:21:00.011-04:00

One of the cliches one hears in the United States this week is that "Everyone's Irish!" People who couldn't find Ireland on a map of the British Isles will be doing the Wearing of the Green, to the delight or irritation of many.

So how many Americans ARE Irish? According to the 2000 Census, of the 281.4 million people in the country, 30.5 million, or 10.8% self-identify as Irish. In a more recent calculation, 36.3 million U.S. residents claimed "Irish ancestry in 2008. This number was more than eight times the population of Ireland itself (4.4 million). Irish was the nation’s second most frequently reported ancestry, trailing only German."

Most people are familiar with the potato famine of the 1840s which generated much of the emigration from Ireland to the US. But in fact, the trend started earlier than that.

"Between 1820 and 1860, the Irish constituted over one third of all immigrants to the United States. In the 1840s, they comprised nearly half of all immigrants to this nation. Interestingly, pre-famine immigrants from Ireland were predominately male, while in the famine years and their aftermath, entire families left the country. In later years, the majority of Irish immigrants were women."

The Irish-Americans suffered some definite hostility. For instance: "In the Questions for Admittance to the American Party (1854), inductees committed to '...elect to all offices of Honor, Profit, or Trust, no one but native born citizens of America, of this Country to the exclusion of all Foreigners, and to all Roman Catholics, whether they be of native or Foreign Birth, regardless of all party predilections whatever'." There were also racial pressures: "...the Irish and Blacks had reason to feel they were treated unfairly in the workforce, and often at one another's expense."

Eventually, though the "Irish influence resulted in increased power for the Democratic Party as well as the Catholic Church. William R. Grace became New York City’s first Irish-Catholic mayor in 1880. Four years later, Hugh O’Brien won the same position in Boston.

"Irish-American political clout led to increased opportunities for the Irish-American. Looking out for their own, the political machines made it possible for the Irish to get jobs, to deal with naturalization issues, even to get food or heating fuel in emergencies. The political machines also rewarded their own through political appointments."

I happen to think that there are actually more Irish in America than have been reported. The mixing of the races has probably made tracking lineage difficult in some cases. A prime example is delineated in the book The Sweeter The Juice about an Irish woman and a mulatto man marrying after the Civil War. Many of the descendants, especially those living as black, have holes in their family trees.

Where are the Irish-American enclaves in the US? According to the ePodunk site, the concentration is in the Northeast, plus in and around the state of Illinois. Interestingly, Albany, NY is NOT on the list; given the partying that goes on after every St. Patrick's Day parade, such as the one from Saturday past, maybe it's the faux green wearers who are the most vigorous celebrants.

(A not so subtle reminder for Americans to fill out the Census forms they received this week.)

ABC Wednesday

ROG

I AM Happy, Damn It!

2010-03-15T05:17:00.003-04:00

Since I still feel like I just went through the spin cycle in my clothes washer, and since Jaquandor wouldn't mind seeing this meme spread out through Blogistan, I thought I would list ten things that make me happy (minus the obvious mentions of The Wife, The Daughter, and music). Even stole his title; shameful.

1. Being touched - I don't mean that in any sordid way. I mean hugs, hand holding, massage. (There was some recent studies that showed that when people are touched, they have a better perception of the event.)
2. White noise to go to sleep by - fan, my daughter's air filter, even a vacuum cleaner if it's far enough away. (There was at least one night in the Daughter's first two months that the vacuum got HER to go to sleep.)
3. The fact that when I write, it takes me to often unexpected places.
4. Learning new things almost daily.
5. Being able to pull out some obscure piece of information, whether it be at work or helping someone on the bus figure out the best route or watching JEOPARDY!
6. Racquetball - nothing like beating up a helpless piece of rubber.
7. The English language - its amalgamation of such diverse sources, from Latin and Greek to Tagalog and Arabic.
8. Black and white photographs; they seem to have such character.
9. Baseball. It's not just watching it. It's the history, the obsessive use of statistics (batting average against left-handers in night games, e.g.)
10. Card games - hearts, pinochle, bid whist, spades. It's the social aspect of games I like the most; playing on the computer is just not the same.
***
Time to drink some English tea.

ROG

The 50th Anniversary Celebration

2010-03-14T05:21:00.000-04:00

I can only blame it on the fact that I was feeling lousy - still feeling lousy, actually - that I forgot until Friday night that Friday was ten years since my parents' 50th anniversary. It would be their last one.

My sisters and I decided to surprise them for the event. We called their church, trying to arrange for a room. There was only one problem; someone else wanted the room for the same day. This was months before the date; couldn't the other party change the date? This is our parents' 50TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! Well, no, because the other party, it turned out, was our father, wanted to have a surprise gig for our mom himself. So we decided to join forces.

I came down with my wife and my parents-in-law, who had met my parents at Carol's and my wedding only the May before, when my father did all the decorations and floral arranging. We all wanted to help, and did somewhat, but he had a vision, and it was difficult for us mortals to fulfill it in the way he had in mind. So he did most of the church hall decoration himself, with my sister Leslie's help since she had worked with him on these types of things decades earlier. The rest of us did some of the heavy lifting. The difference between this event and the wedding ten months earlier was that my father had to rest occasionally, maybe more than occasionally.

Sunday, March 12, 2000, we all went to church, diverting our mother from the building's assembly hall. We attended the church service, during which a peculiar thing happened: my parents were invited to renew their vows. I don't know if my father knew about this, but my mother, my sisters and I certainly did not. I think my sisters and I gulped a bit. Would she actually say yes? My father could be...well, let's say, five decades of marriage always has its complications. There was what seemed to be an interminable pause before she replied in the affirmative.

Afterward, we had the party. There was singing and tributes from various folks. My sisters and I had put together one of those video montages of photos that ran throughout the event.

The next day, the wife, the in-laws and I went home. Well not quite home. We left Charlotte at 6 a.m.. got to the in-laws' house in Oneonta, NY, 715 miles away, at 9 p.m. and just crashed.

What had been a family tradition was to get a family photo every time the Greens got together if it had been a while. The last one we sat for was on their anniversary in 1995, but for some obscure reason - probably the contentiousness of that day (but that's another story) - we didn't in 2000. Since my father died that August 10 from prostate cancer, the lack of the family photo became one of those "coulda, shoulda" things in the family lore.

ROG

Daylight Saving Time QUESTIONS

2010-03-13T06:01:00.002-05:00

Daylight Saving Time (note: NOT "Savings") starts on Sunday, March 14 in most of the US. Does it really save energy? Some studies suggest it does.

Will it give me a heart attack? It's more that disruptions in sleep make one more vulnerable to heart attacks generally.

I swear I saw this report before the earlier DST was instituted a few years ago that there would be a review after two years to see if it is working. Is it saving energy, or are people using more light on those mid-March mornings when they weren't necessary the week before? More daylight when the air conditioners are on, perhaps. But I've seen no study, and now it seems to be codified.

So how do you feel about DST? I hate it because it takes the better part of a week for the daughter to get acclimated, especially the ~~spring~~ winter forward part. How much time is used by people changing clocks, which always are off on Monday morning after the change? Worse, countries around the world change their clocks in different weeks, or not at all. I have to figure what time it is in Europe for two weeks until Europe makes the switch.

Your thoughts?

Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is?

ROG

Online/offline life

2010-03-12T05:06:00.002-05:00

I attended this blogger conference last week at the College of Saint Rose. If you go to the link, you'll see what people, including me, thought of the event. The video, which I kvetched about in the article, is also available at the site.

One of the running observations in those comments is that the participants feared that the event would turn out to be a snarkfest, based on some of the online comments that some of these same people had made online to each other. Instead it was, if not a love fest, then at least quite civil. And I got to see my buddy David Brickman, pictured, and not just his head.

I find it all very odd, because, lately, I'm finding people online to be, for the most part, much more civil than in person. There was an incident last month at church - which I won't get into much except to say this: when someone wants to convince me of the efficacy of a point of view, it's really important that the topic sentence not be patently, demonstrably false. That transaction, combined with some other circumstances, made going there, especially to choir, a little less of a safe place to be than it had been heretofore. Not occasionally, some of my racquetball partners can be - let's say unnecessarily irritating lately. Our neighbors, who we are fond of, lost their house for back taxes; verdict is out on the buyer, but early signs are, let's say, less than encouraging. And the Albany Y is closing at the end of the month; I've only been a member since December 1982, so I have no emotional investment.

Meanwhile, online life is pretty darn great. Part of that, admittedly, is the fact that it was my birthday Sunday and I got probably two dozen Facebook well wishers, plus four e-cards, a number of e-mails, a few comments on the blog, and a mention from Gordon. Since I am admittedly LOUSY at Facebook - it just isn't something I find the time to do regularly - I found the FB responses in particular really gratifying.

But it's other stuff. My blog was featured on the Times Union page when I happened to be sitting at the library next to a guy looking for a job; I could just give him the link to the Census information. "Hey, is that you?" pictured on top? Why yes, it is.

The mighty comic blogger ADD cited a conversation we had a while back in a recent post. Jaquandor (the guy at Byzantium Shores) and Scott answered my questions; yes, some of them are the same questions. I get good comments from the ABC Wednesday folks.

Sunday Stealing stole my meme (that's a good thing); and yes, I had admittedly stolen it myself.

Speaking of stealing, I was pleased that the NYS senator Kirsten Gillibrand came out for gay men being able to donate blood. I wanted to write something but didn't have time, so of course, I stole it. I feel only slightly guilty, because I stole it from me. Repositioning, as I recall ADD and I decided.

Someone joked at the Times Union gig that "almost no one" showed up in pajamas. Sometimes, the folks that I could "talk" with in my PJs are just easier to deal with. Well, except for Glenn Beck attacking me.
***
I'm not much of a believer in astrology, but my friend of 52 years, born two days after I, sent me our chart. I found it oddly soothing:
"This aspect is all about breaking the bonds that held you down in the past." [Sounds right.] You are about to become liberated from some sort of situation that contained or limited you...Earlier in the month we have an excellent day that you may want to circle on your calendar - March 7...will help you hone your powers of communication. The written and spoken word will become very important to your progress at this time, and if you are born on March 7, or within five days of this date, this will be true for your whole year to come because this is happening on your "solar return" or return of the Sun to your time of birth. (The closer your birthday falls to March 7, the more dramatically you will see this trend.) Travel taken near March 7 should go really well, and all news, including news about home and family, could make you want to sing!"
Since my birthday was March 7 - which turned out to be a pretty good day...

ROG

the Odd Couple: Olson and Boies

2010-03-11T05:16:00.000-05:00

I received this warm and fuzzzy e-mail about gay marriage coming to DC. I'm happy about the outcome. My problem is that the "aw shucks" POV is unlikely to convince anyone who is not already inclined to agree with the position.

What I believe will be more compelling is for people to watch the broadcast and/or read the transcript of Bill Moyers Journal for February 26, 2010. The legal adversaries in 2000's Bush v. Gore Supreme Court case — Theodore Olson and David Boies, "one conservative and one liberal — have teamed up to make the constitutional case for same-sex marriage." And the point that is made repeatedly is that their support is based on the rule of law.

The two lawyers are mounting "a well-financed legal challenge to Proposition 8, California's 2008 ballot initiative that put an end to same-sex marriage in that state. The case could make it as far as the Supreme Court and define the debate on same-sex marriage for years to come."

"The case they've brought, Perry et al v. Schwarzenegger et al, has created a major stir, with some advocates of same-sex marriage worried that they are bringing the case too soon, that a loss at the Supreme Court could set back the movement for same-sex marriage by years. Olson argues that waiting for civil rights is not an option:

In the first place, someone was going to challenge Proposition 8 in California. Some lawyer, representing two people, was going to bring this challenge. We felt that if a challenge was going to be brought, it should be brought with a well-financed, capable effort, by people who knew what they were doing in the courts. Secondly, when people said, 'Maybe you should be waiting. Maybe you should wait until there's more popular support.' Our answer to that was, 'Well, when is that going to happen? How long do you want people to wait? How long do you want people to be deprived of their Constitutional rights in California?'

Earlier, to this basic point:
TED OLSON:... People told Martin Luther King, "Don't do it. The people aren't ready." And Martin Luther King responded, "I can't wait. I'm not going to make people wait." And when people told Martin Luther King, "You may lose." He said, "The battles for civil rights are won ultimately by people fighting for civil rights."

And one more thing. When the Supreme Court had made the decision in Loving versus Virginia in 1967, striking down the laws of 17 states that prohibited interracial marriage, now it's only what? 40 years later? 40 years later we think that's inconceivable that Virginia or some other state could prohibit interracial marriage. It's inconceivable. Public sometimes follows the opinions of the Supreme Court, reads the opinion and says, "My gosh, thank goodness for the Supreme Court. We realize how wrong that was."

(I've written about Loving vs. Virginia, which I too find analogous to the gay marriage issue.)

Perhaps it is my liberal bias, but I found the statements of the conservative Olson the most compelling:

TED OLSON: We're not advocating any recognition of a new right. The right to marry is in the Constitution. The Supreme Court's recognized that over and over again. We're talking about whether two individuals who will be -- should be treated equally, under the equal protection clause of the Constitution. The same thing that the Supreme Court did in 1967, which recognized the Constitutional rights of people of different races to marry.

At that point, in 1967, 17 states prohibited persons from a different race of marrying one another. The Supreme Court, at that point, unanimously didn't create a new right, the right was the right to marry; the Supreme Court said the discrimination on the basis of race in that instance was unconstitutional.

Or this exchange:

BILL MOYERS: So, you're both comfortable invalidating seven million votes in California [who voted for Prop 8]?

TED OLSON: Well, this happens when the voters decide to violate someone's constitutional rights. David mentioned that we have a Constitution and we have an independent judiciary for the very protection of minorities. Majorities don't need protection from the courts.

I was particularly fond of this:

BILL MOYERS: But you're going up not only against the voters of California, the majority, but you're going up against the Congress of the United States. In the 1990s, Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act, which actually defined marriage as quote, "a legal union between one man and one woman." And even declared that states need not recognize the marriages, the same sex marriages of another state. The President signed this. President Bill Clinton signed this. And you want to overturn not only the voters of California, but the Congress and the President of the United States.
...

TED OLSON:...it often happens that the measures that are passed almost unanimously in Congress, because Congress gets carried away, are overturned by the Supreme Court. And you go back to Members of Congress and you say, "What happened there?" And they'll say, "Well, we knew it was unconstitutional. We expected the courts to take care of that. We wanted to get reelected. The courts are the ones that come back and help us."

One of the fascinating aspects of the trial, which began in January, is that one could not watch the proceedings, unless one were in the federal courthouse in San Francisco. "(T)wo filmmakers in Los Angeles came up with an ingenious alternative. Using the trial transcripts and other reporting, plus a cast of professional actors, they turned the case into a TV courtroom drama. Every day of the proceedings has been reenacted on their website, Marriagetrial.com.

So watch/read this piece. You may be convinced, despite your conservative leanings, theological objections, or other issues that, as a matter of long-standing American law and jurisprudence, marriage is a fundamental right, and therefore must include gay marriage as well.
ROG

The Pretentious Blogging Meme 2

2010-03-10T05:12:00.000-05:00

More navel-gazing via Sunday stealing.

12. How many drafts of potential blog posts do you have right now?

102. Some of them are for dates past. Will they become blogposts? Dunno. Some will, in all likelihood.

13. In what medium do you draft your posts?

In the Blogger thingy. It has an autosave feature, but I hit the save button frequently anyway. Occasionally, Blogger won't save, and I end up copying and pasting the post in an e-mail to myself. Even my WordPress blog I do in Blogger, mostly because I never figured out how to size pictures in WP.

14. How often do you completely scratch or delete drafts or blog post ideas?

Maybe three or four times a year. What a pain, mostly because blogging time is so finite.

15. If you had to leave your blog in your will to another blogger, who would you choose?

There's a woman in my office who used to blog. Her.

16. Are there other blogs that you feel are similar to yours in content, style, or voice?

Well, yes, no, maybe. Obviously I think my voice is unique, but that's true of everyone. I think that there are elements of my blogging style in a number of blogs. I tend to think many other blogs are more singularly focused than mine. Maybe I should have five blogs or something, but I'd find it irritatingly compartmentalizing.
I pretty much hate most categories. The only categories I have for the bulk of my CDs are classical and pop. Classical is anything where the composer is above the title, whether that be Beethoven, Gershwin or Scott Joplin. Pop is everything else.

17. Has anything surprised you since you started blogging?

Yes, that I'm still doing it every day. That anyone reads it. That occasionally people are moved by what I write, often unexpectedly. That I have found it not just enjoyable but occasionally useful.

18. What are your goals or plans for your blog going forward?

Blog less. Or absent that, cloning.

19. Do you make any money from your blog? (optional) about how much a month?

No, though I've gotten some swag.

20. What blogging system do you use?

Does this mean Blogger? Or does mean chaos? Actually one of my blogs is in WordPress.

21. How did you come up your blog name?

From a radio guy called Rambling with Gambling. Oh, and my first name; I liked the partial alliteration.

22. How many blogs do you have? What was your peak?

Seven. Seven. Fortunately three are shared. Oddly, the most difficult one is the one for which I write once a month; more pressure, I think.

23. Are you having as much fun as when you started?

It ebbs and flows. Surely more than when I FIRST started when I had no idea what I was going to write the next day, or what my credo of blogging was. (I have a credo of blogging?)

24. Where do you find other bloggers like you?

Blog friends of blog friends.

25. What’s your one wish when it comes to blogging?

Steve Martin answered this long time ago here.

ROG

H is for Haiti

2010-03-09T05:06:00.004-05:00

A couple weeks ago, during my church's Black History Month celebration, we had a speaker talk about Haiti. He was a scholar on the topic and spoke for nearly 40 minutes, so I can't bring you all that he shared. But I thought these points were particularly interesting.

Haitians fought in the American Revolutionary War on the side of the colonies. This became a source of great pride among the Haitian people. And the success of the the American example, and that of France c. 1789, was pivotal in the Haitians' successful revolution (1791-1804).

Yet the United States was cool to the revolt on the island of Hispanola. "Could it be that...the specter of a revolution of slaves against white masters a revolution led by a former slave, Toussaint Louverture, who claimed for the former slaves a universal human right to freedom and citizenship made Americans cool to revolution?

"Thomas Jefferson, who readily accepted violence as the price of freedom in France, was not so relaxed about the black revolutionaries in Saint-Domingue as Haiti was called until its formal independence in 1804.

"Timothy Pickering, the irascible Federalist who served in the cabinets of both George Washington and John Adams...demanded of Jefferson, could he praise the French Revolution and refuse support for the rebels on Saint-Domingue because they were 'guilty' of having a 'skin not colored like our own'?"

And fear of slave uprisings in the United States being inspired by the Haitian revolution was not entirely unfounded.

But it was the Haitian revolution which made Jefferson's purchase of the Louisiana purchase in 1803 possible. The United States, who were only looking for access to the port of New Orleans got to nearly double its land. The French, who'd only reacquired the territory from the Spanish a few years earlier, got needed money and got to tweak Spain at the same time.

So why has Haiti been so poor for so long. Certainly a pair of reasons happened early on: boycott and reparations.

In 1806, fearful that the Haitian Revolution might inspire enslaved Africans in other parts of the Western hemisphere to rebel, the U.S. Congress banned trade with Haiti, joining French, Spanish and Portuguese boycotts. Global shipping originating in or by Haiti was banned from trading with or entering American and European ports of trade. This coordinated embargo effectively crippled Haiti’s export-driven economy and its development as a once prosperous Caribbean port... The embargo was accompanied by a threat of re-colonization and re-enslavement by the American-European alliance if Haiti failed to compensate France for losses incurred when French plantation owners, as a result of the Haitian Revolution, lost Haiti’s lucrative sugar, coffee and tobacco fortunes supported by slave labor.... Haiti spent the next 111 years, until 1922, paying 70% of its national revenues in reparations to France – a ransom enforced by the American-European trade alliance as the price for Haiti’s independence.

Many of these same points are discussed in this recent Daily Kos story.

I'm inclined to believe that rebuilding Haiti is not a moral imperative, it is economic justice that, if done correctly, could pay dividends for all concerned.

ABC Wednesday
ROG

Claudette Colvin

2010-03-08T05:26:00.001-05:00

Claudette gave all of us moral courage. If she had not done what she did, I am not sure that we would have been able to mount the support for Mrs. Parks.

--Fred Gray, Alabama civil rights attorney

When I attended the Underground Railroad Conference at Russell Sage College in Troy, NY on February 27, the participants were treated to a performance by the group the Matie Masie Ensemble, who blended spoken word and song with African and jazz music. This particular series of story-songs included a narrative about a 15-year-old young black woman named Claudette Colin, who, nine months before Rosa Parks' act of defiance, "refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery city bus the same and was arrested for violating segregation law, disorderly conduct, and assault."

So, as the Matie Masie narrative asks, Why does Rosa Parks get all the credit? What about Claudette?

She wasn't considered the right symbol. She was young, impulsive, occasionally loud, wore her hair in cornrows rather than straightening it. It didn't help that she subsequently got pregnant from "what she said was a non-consensual relationship."

Rosa Parks, by contrast, was a good middle-class woman of a certain bearing with the right hair and the right look who would be a much better symbol for the Montgomery bus boycott.

However Claudette is part of legal history. It was four women... — Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith — who served as plaintiffs in the legal action challenging Montgomery's segregated public transportation system.

In their case — Browder v. Gayle — a district court and, eventually, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down segregation on buses.

There's a 2009 book on Claudette Colvin by Philip Hoose which tells this underreported part of the story.
***
Civil Rights in America: Racial Desegregation of Public Accommodations
ROG

Condiments

2010-03-07T05:20:00.004-05:00

So, today is my birthday. How the heck can I remember how old I am? It's not as though it's a round number.

Get a bottle of ketchup.

Ketchup? What will...

Brand name.

You mean like Hunt's?

The other one.

OK, so what does...

Look at the bottle.

Hmm. What am... OH, 57!

57.

But what will I use NEXT year?

We've got time to work on that.

***
AP — Celebrity birthdays: March 7:
TV personality Willard Scott is 76.
Actor Daniel J. Travanti is 70.
Bassist Chris White of The Zombies is 67.
Singer Peter Wolf of The J. Geils Band is 64.
Actor John Heard is 64.
Keyboardist Matthew Fisher of Procol Harum is 64.
Guitarist Ernie Isley of the Isley Brothers is 58.
Blogger Roger Green is 57.
Actor Bryan Cranston is 54.
Actor Bill Brochtrup ("NYPD Blue") is 47.
Comedian Wanda Sykes is 46.
Singer Taylor Dayne is 45.
Drummer Randy Guss of Toad the Wet Sprocket is 43.
Actress Rachel Weisz is 39.
Singer Sebastien Izambard of Il Divo is 37.
Singer Hugo Ferreira of Tantric is 36.
Actress Jenna Fisher is 36.
Actress Laura Prepon is 30.
ROG

Feeling Your Age QUESTION

2010-03-06T05:11:00.001-05:00

One of the things I hated about some of the music of the 1990s was that it sounded like songs I knew, sort of. This wasn't just a copyright issue (Hammer, for one, was very good at attribution of the original source). It was that I would be briefly lulled into the familiar, only to be jolted into...something else. P. Diddy's music did that to me a lot.

(Though the Every Valley from Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration was a GOOD surprise.)

So my family was at the 60th birthday party of the colleague of my wife's. And this song comes on. I think it's Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon, a song for which I have deep affection. Turns out to be some popular tune by Kid Rock that I had somehow missed. And, just for the moment, I was feeling my age.

What makes YOU feel like, just maybe, you're not still a kid?
***
Blue Is Frustrated from Blue's Clues. Pray tell, what is Blue frustrated about?
***
GORDON'S BIRTHDAY TODAY.
ROG

Avoiding the Credit Card Late Fees

2010-03-05T05:14:00.005-05:00

I've previously kvetched about Bank of America tacking on a $1.50 monthly fee for the privilege of holding their credit card. I've since noticed that my cards with Chase and Wells Fargo likewise are charging me this, and I intend to cancel those as well; they are a little bit trickier in that I have some automatic payments tied to those cards, such as my cable/phone bill.

Let me be honest; 15 years ago, I might not have noticed. But 15 years ago, I had credit card debt approaching five figures. Surely I would have been paying far more interest every 30 days than eight or twelve bits.

Now that I finally have zero credit card debt - none, zilch, nada - these ticky-tack charges really bugs me.

Citi ISN'T charging me this monthly fee yet. It's just, like most of the rest of them, threaten to increase my interest rate by 50% or more and tack on an outrageous fee if I'm late. This is why I have at least my minimum payment taken out automatically from my checking account.

I got my Discover bill this week. I have an automatic payment on this card too, which happens to be the whole amount of $36. It also has the Late Payment warning: "If we do not receive payment by the date listed above, you may have to pay a late fee of up to $39..." Ah, a potential $39 charge on a $36 purchase.

But here's the kicker: the minimum due date is March 25, but my "next automatic payment will be on" March 26! I am so paranoid that I called DISCOVER to see if I have to write a check, something the arrangement should have avoided. I discover from a nice woman named Donna that my auto-payment would NOT be considered late, that it was DISCOVER's processing mechanism. Moreover, she stated - correctly - that if the company were to treat their customers that shabbily, they would soon not have many customers left.

So I shan't worry about it. But I WILL blog about it...just in case.
***
A video only everyone who owns, used to own or will own a credit card should watch.
***
How do you make a contribution to reduce the public debt?

ROG

I would Have Voted For Harold Ford

2010-03-04T05:07:00.000-05:00

I was mildly disappointed that Harold Ford, Jr., the former Tennessee congressman, has decided this week not to run in the Democratic primary against US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

I'm pretty sure I would have voted for him...in 2006, when he ran for US Senator from Tennessee. He was clearly the more moderate choice in his race against Bob Corker. But it he lost, and many folks thought it was in no small part because of some racially tinged commercials.

In 2010, though, he never identified any particular reason to vote for him. He was evasive in his February 14 appearance on Meet the Press concerning his Merrill Lynch bonuses. His reception at the Black and Latino Caucus, based on what I saw =on television, was lackluster at best. He was one of only a handful of Congressional Democrats to vote for a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, and his recent conversion supporting gay marriage has been met with a decided lack of enthusiasm. The one thing I would have advised him not to have worried about the carpetbagger charge - everyone else who was so charged (RFK in 1964, James Buckley in 1970 and Hillary Clinton in 2000) not only ran but won.

Whereas Kirsten Gillibrand, who started off as an apparent afterthought of a choice of Governor Paterson, and was thought likely to be primaried from someone on the left, seems to have grown into the role of junior Senator. I watched her during her live video Facebook chat back on February 24, and her command of the issues was very impressive. She was strong in her support of the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and believes that the process of hearings that had just started would get to that goal. She also adamantly opposes the so-called Defense Of Marriage Act. She was equally forceful on health care, jobs, tax credits, and reproductive rights. She explained that the agricultural committee she serves on deals with financial derivatives, a vestige of a time when farmers used their crops as collateral.

I should say that while Harold Ford Jr. almost always seems slick and polished, Kirsten Gillibrand trying to read the questions that scrolled by too fast was a bit comical. Still, had Ford actually decided to run, I think Gillibrand would have cleaned his clock. We'll never know, of course. And with the primary falling so late, in September, it does avoid the internecine warfare that the Democrats are known for, thus giving them a better chance to hold onto the seat.

But that race would have been FUN.

ROG

The Pretentious Blogging Meme

2010-03-03T05:28:00.001-05:00

Apparently, I'm in a blogging about blogging mode: From Sunday Stealing.

1. How long have you been blogging?

4 years, 10 months yesterday. Or the day before, if you count the time I wrote it.

2. What made you start?

Discussed here, but what MADE me start ultimately is being very opinionated with no venue.

3. Who inspired you?

Fred Hembeck and the late Steve Gerber.

4. About how many hours a week would you estimate you spend on your blog?

You mean THIS one? Well, probably eight hours writing it, then another five checking out other blogs, getting rid of spam comments, responding to questions, etc.

5. What kind of experience or background do you have with writing?

I wrote for my high school newspaper; in my senior year, had a column called Pa Central (I went to Binghamton Central); snarky before I knew the word.
I co-edited a newsletter in college and edited one in grad school. I edited, for six years, a monthly work newsletter. Wrote some press releases for the Schenectady Arts Council and a little for FantaCo. Edited three and a half issues of FantaCo's Chronicles Series. Inevitably, anything I edited involved a degree of writing as well.

6. Talk about how you come up with blog topics. Where do you get your ideas?

Steal 'em. Well, sometimes, but finding topics is not the problem; the problem is a lack of time to write coherently about certain topics. I have three topics I could write about tomorrow, but will I have time to compose ANY of them?

7. What or who inspires you and your blog?

Life. Politics. Sports. TV. Music. The newspaper. Really, inspiration I get easily; time, not so much.

8. Where and/or how do your brainstorming for your blog?

Anywhere - riding the bus, taking a shower, occasionally, my dreams.

9. Do you have any blogging rules or guidelines you follow?

Probably. I tend not to use language that's likely to offend a segment of my vast readership. I try not to write about the same topic too often in a row. Not only might it be tedious for the reader, more importantly it'd likely be boring for me. Or maybe my approach is ADHD-driven.

10. Is there anything you will not blog about?

Yes. And if I told you what those topics were, that'd kind of defeat the purpose of not blogging about it. "I'm not going to tell you about..."; yeah, right.

11. Do you have any sort of a publishing schedule in terms of day of week or topic?

Well, Tuesday is ABC Wednesday. The 26th of the month is Lydia day. Mondays are memes, sometimes (not this week, apparently). Saturdays are questions, often but not always. The rest I fake.
***
More in re: blogging. I entered Rose's blog hosting contest. Guess what? I WON! I got a confirming e-mail yesterday afternoon, and I have some ideas for a URL, but if you have some thoughts before, say, 1 pm Eastern Time today when I go to lunch and contact the provider, have at it.
***
I noted only a couple days ago that I had appeared in the Trouble with Comics blog. Then Mr. Doane wrote to comment: "My apologies, but Guest Reviewer Month has now been pushed back to April due to some technical problems. Your piece should go up 4/1, Roger. Sorry!" The trouble with this was that I thought he was making a joke; the piece should go up on April Fools Day? Les & Trudy didn't raise someone THAT gullible.

Except that my friend Rocco noted that the piece that had been posted had disappeared. This probably has something to do with Trouble with Comics changing its URL because of changers with Blogger re: FTPs.

In other words, I have outwitted myself. Expect the piece on - April 1? Really, ADD?

ROG

G is for Green

2010-03-02T05:06:00.019-05:00

The flag of Brazil
There was an answer on the game show JEOPARDY! recently (2010, Jan 27)- IT'S NO WHITE $1000: According to Webster's, the serpentine shade of this color is "paler than citrine".
The question was "What is green"? I had no idea. (I guessed yellow.)

I'm a Roy G. Biv kind of guy, that, of course, representing the main colors of rainbow. You know, yellow and blue equals green; the basic stuff.

But in fact, I do there are lots of gradations of green. I'm also aware in the color spectrum as used in HTML, that colors are "defined using a hexadecimal (hex) notation for the combination of Red, Green, and Blue color values (RGB)".

Flag of Norfolk Island, "tax free haven of Australia"
I've always been fascinated by flags. For flags, green can symbolize the Earth, agriculture, fertility, and/or the Muslim religion.

Before our child was born - and we never knew the gender until she was born - we categorically eliminated some names from consideration:
Olive Green
Kelly Green
Forest Green

And since my last name IS Green, I get to list some of my favorite green things:

Vermont: the nearby Green Mountain state

M&Ms and, specifically, Tegan's continuing green M&M challenge.

Monopoly: one of my favorite board games features little green houses

Green Goblin: favorite villain in my favorite comic book, Spider-Man

The Green Lantern/Green Arrow comics of the mid-1970s.

Going green: the 3 Rs of reduce, reuse & recycle

Greenwich Mean Time: longitude and time are reckoned by the prime meridian

Green Eggs and Ham: An editor bet that Dr. Seuss could not write a book using 50 words or less; he lost. It's Dr. Seuss' birthday today!

Naturally, the music:

Al Green-Take Me To The River
Creedence Clearwater Revival-Green River
The Lemon Pipers-Green Tambourine
And finally, the song that's been sung by Frank Sinatra, Audra McDonald, Van Morrison and countless others, but never better than by the amphibian: Being Green-Kermit the Frog.

ABC Wednesday

ROG

A Couple Links In Lieu of Actual Content

2010-03-01T05:24:00.001-05:00

Maybe it's because I've tried cutting back on caffeine. Surely it has to do with Black History Month at church and a presentation I did at the Underground Railroad conference this past weekend. But I am FRIED.

Fried means going to bed when the child goes to bed, between 8 and 9 pm. Going to bed BEFORE my wife, and if you know her sleep patterns, you'd find that astonishing.
So I'm not going to force it. I'll give you a couple links. The good news, I suppose, is that I wrote them:

EDIT: POSTPONED UNTIL APRIL (paragraph below)
Over at Trouble with Comics, the esteemed comics blogger Alan David Doane is having Guest Reviewer Month. And guess who his first contributor is? (And yes, ADD, I DO laugh your claim to my "fame".)

On my Times Union blog, I note how lucky Albany has been with the weather this winter. Those of you from across the country or the world might read that NYC schools and Syracuse University were closed on Friday; Albany got about an inch of slush. Oh, and I dedicate the post to Jason at 2political, who's in the Washington, DC area and gotten far more snow in 2010 than I have.

Finally, I want to point you to the NYS Data Center blog where I highlight the Modern Mechanix blog.

More content tomorrow, I hope.

ROG

Media Maven

2010-02-28T05:12:00.001-05:00

Thursday, I got a ride from my isolating Corporate Woods office with lousy bus service to the neighborhood-imbedded College of Saint Rose, using up most of my lunch break, to film what will probably be a 15-second segment of a promotion for what appears below. It's too bad that I had to go back to work, because my ride took us right past my house.

I was supposed to say something profound about why I blog, on cue. Yeesh. Ultimately, I rambled on about something to do with being a librarian and wanting to share information. (I think.) I know they'll be showing the compiled video at the event, but if it's otherwise available, I'll make a point to share it with you.

The guy who picked me up I hadn't seen in four or five years. I've talked with him regularly and e-mailed with even more frequently. But when he picked me up, he didn't recognize me, because of the vitiligo. Heck, sometimes I literally don't recognize myself.

Oh, one other thing: with the sheer number of participants, and the time frame, I can't imagine just how this thing is going to work.

The upcoming Media 2010 event to be held Wednesday, March 3, at The College of Saint Rose, has sold out. We currently are accepting names on a waiting list.

Event: Media 2010: How blogs shape the new conversation
Date: Wednesday, March 03, 2010 from 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM (ET)

Location:
College of Saint Rose
Touhey Forum, Lally Building
1009 Madison Avenue
Albany, NY 12203

***
Speaking of blogging, I seem to be spending more time deleting spam from my blogs. Except for this one, the messages don't actually GET to the blogs; I use comment moderation. On this blog, though, I don't, but I get an e-mail copy of whatever gets posted; I click on the link and delete the rubbish forever.

There seems to be particular recurring themes with these of late:
*the guy whose girlfriend, he's just discovered, has been sleeping with his roommate/brother/uncle/father, and so, of COURSE, he's inviting you to see nude pictures of her
*various schemes touting particular software
*the couple touting Louisville, KY
Plus the usual scams and stuff written in Russian and Chinese.
But the ones I don't get are the ones that say something vaguely complimentary that are signed by Anonymous and DON'T have a link to an e-mail or website. What's the point, exactly?

ROG

Win 6 free months of blog/web hosting, own domain name

2010-02-27T20:20:00.004-05:00

I'm sure I tweeted about this before - back in the days when I used to actually use my Twitter account - but Rose DesRochers – World outside my Window has been having this contest where if you comment to one of her posts - or a whole bunch of other stuff such as tweeting about said contest, one gets points towards winning a Wordpress blog hosting package from VisionThisHosting.com.

Unfortunately, tomorrow the 28th is the deadline.

ROG

Oscar Pics QUESTIONS

2010-02-27T05:16:00.003-05:00

Who's going to win the big awards? I have no idea, of course, but I'll hazard some guesses anyway, based on how watching the Oscars for decades has informed my opinions.

Best Supporting Actor:
*Matt Damon-'Invictus'
Woody Harrelson-'The Messenger'
Christopher Plummer-'The Last Station'
Stanley Tucci-'The Lovely Bones'
Christoph Waltz -'Inglorious Basterds'
Who will win: Waltz. There's always someone who the general public has never heard of who wins one of the supporting nods. Don't think it'll be Plummer, whose movie got only a so-so 68% positive in Rotten Tomatoes; on the other hand, he's old (80), and the Academy likes old, plus it's his first nomination. Could be Tucci, but I think that some of those Academy voters just aren't going to watch his performance because of the subject matter.
Who I want to win: Tucci, who's just an actor who shows great range.

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz-'Nine'
*Vera Farmiga-'Up in the Air'
Maggie Gyllenhaal-'Crazy Heart'
*Anna Kendrick-'Up in the Air'
Mo'nique-'Precious'
Who will win: Mo'nique. Academy loves to reward those who play against type. Bonus that she's a minority, and Cruz got one recently.
Who I want to win: Farmiga, who lives in Ulster County, NY where I lived for a time. So I'm a homer; so what?

Best Animated Feature Film
'Coraline'
'Fantastic Mr. Fox'
*'The Princess and the Frog'
'The Secret of Kells'
*'Up'
What will win: Up. I mean it was a nominee for Best Picture.
What I want to win: The Princess & the Frog. While I LOVED the wordless beginning of Up more than I could have imagined, I liked the Disney flick more throughout.

Best Original Screenplay
Mark Boal 'The Hurt Locker'
Quentin Tarantino 'Inglourious Basterds'
Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman 'The Messenger'
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen 'A Serious Man'
*Peter Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy 'Up'
Who will win: Boal. I'm expecting a Hurt Locker avalanche.
Who I want to win: Boal, though it wouldn't bother me if the Coens ot Tarantino got it.

Best Adapted Screenplay
*Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell 'District 9'
*Nick Hornby 'An Education'
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche 'In the Loop'
Geoffrey Fletcher 'Precious'
*Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner 'Up in the Air'
Who will win: Reitman/Turner. This is Reitman's consolation prize for losing for Best Picture and Best Director, an Oscar tradition.
Who I want to win: Reitman/Turner.

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges 'Crazy Heart'
*George Clooney 'Up in the Air'
*Colin Firth 'A Single Man'
*Morgan Freeman'Invictus'
*Jeremy Renner 'The Hurt Locker'
Who will win: Jeff Bridges, who's been nominated four times without a win, and won the Golden Globe.
Who I want to win: Bridges or Clooney

Best Actress
*Sandra Bullock 'The Blind Side'
*Helen Mirren 'The Last Station'
*Carey Mulligan 'An Education'
Gabourey Sidibe 'Precious'
* Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia as Julia Child
Who will win: Streep. The pundits are making this a contest between Streep and Bullock. Streep, whose been nominated 16 times, and won twice (but not since 1982!) has been beaten by perceived stronger performances. The competition this year includes two novices (Mulligan, Sidibe), Mirren's appearance in a so-so film, and a certain backlash against Bullock's film. If not this year for Meryl, when?
Who I want to win: STREEP

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow 'The Hurt Locker'
James Cameron 'Avatar'
Lee Daniels 'Precious'
*Jason Reitman 'Up in the Air'
Quentin Tarantino 'Inglourious Basterds'
Who will win: Bigelow. I mean, a well-received film, directed by a woman, and not on what's considered a "women's film". Perhaps her biggest booster is one of her competitors, her ex-husband Cameron.
Who I want to win: Bigelow.

Best Picture
'Avatar'
*'The Blind Side'
*'District 9'
*'An Education'
'The Hurt Locker'
'Inglourious Basterds'
'Precious'
'A Serious Man'
*'Up'
*'Up in the Air'
What will win: The Hurt Locker. In a five-movie race under the "first-to-the-post" rules, this is Avatar's, almost for certain. But I keep hearing that while Avatar is a technological achievement, its story's weak.
What I want to win: Up In The Air, which I think in the future will be seen as emblematic of its time.

So what are your picks, for who WILL win, and who you WANT to win?
Links to your blogpost describing same would be fine.

ROG

The Lydster, Part 71: Hiding Less

2010-02-26T05:21:00.012-05:00

Making her own kind of music

The daughter has had this habit of getting all shy, even around people that she has met repeatedly, such as folks in church choir and in church generally. We had hoped that she would outgrow this, and it seems to be starting to happen.

I wonder if it's the ballet lessons she started taking last fall. Now, let me be very clear that Lydia taking ballet is strictly her idea. Her mother and I are rather agnostic on this issue; we certainly aren't the kind of parents to push her into performing. The first time she mentioned it, it was merely talk, I think. But she persisted in asking, and now once a week for 45 minutes, she's in a class with other girls of her age and experience. They had a "performance" a few weeks ago which I went to; it mostly involved showing a few positions and few moves, but it was a pleasant enough experience.

Coming in from the cold

The other experience that seems to have helped her in church choir. She and five other girls sang in front of the church just before Christmas. I would have bet money that she would have bailed, but not only did she stand there, she actually sang out.

It could just be greater security from going to kindergarten, but whatever it is, I'm in favor.

Time to go home - on the road again

ROG
First picture by Uthaclena
Other pictures by Sprylet

Handle with Care

2010-02-25T05:09:00.001-05:00

In the local newspaper a couple weeks ago , the health columnist Lynda Shrager wrote Making whoopee restores body and mind -- honest. "Sex twice or more per week reduced the risk of fatal heart attack by half for men. Also, men who ejaculate frequently can decrease their risk of developing prostate cancer by, as the American Medical Association says, 'clearing out the pipes.'"

"Clearing out the pipes"?

Then I found this article, which reads: "In 2003, research on middle-aged Australian men found that those who averaged at least four ejaculations a week had a one-third lower chance of developing prostate cancer than those who had fewer. 'When you drain the pipes, as it were, you have less clogging,' says Irwin Goldstein, MD, head of sexual medicine at Alvarado Hospital."

Well, OK, then. As some of you know, my father died of prostate nine and a half years ago. While the general media touts those who have survived prostate cancer, I am reminded of those who did not. Here's a mixed list.

Unfortunately, thinking about pipes, a popular Irish tune came to mind. I can just imagine men wooing their significant others with the tune to "Danny Boy": "My darling dear, the pipes, the pipes are calling." You can substitute "My darling dear" with any four syllables of affection (darling, dear, dearest, lover), including the beloved's name. Or not. (The mind will go where the mind will go.)

Ms. Shrager talks about additional benefits of sex for men and women.
***
Oh, the pictures. I was looking for a visual for the F is for February post. So I went to the LIFE magazine archive, typed in the word February, and the picture above was captured. It's for Thayers Patent Medicine, and the picture was taken in February 1949 by George Silk. The bottom picture I found typing in the word Thayers in the LIFE photo archive.

Interestingly, the product, a slippery elm throat lozenge is still being produced, "Trusted by tenors, teachers, tour guides and other types who trill, talk and testify." Here's a positive review.

ROG

Underground Railroad Conference

2010-02-24T05:12:00.009-05:00

The 9th Annual UGR History Conference: Gender, Class, Race and Ethnicity in Abolitionism, on the Underground Railroad, and in the Struggle Since will take place February 26, 27, 28, 2010
Organized by Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region, Inc.
Hosted by Russell Sage College, Troy, New York
In Collaboration with Rensselaer County Historical Society

February 26
“The Not So Underground Underground Railroad” Teacher Workshop
Rhonda Y. Williams, Ph.D. – evening guest speaker
“Railroads, Streets and Bridges – Black Women and Freedom Journeys”

February 27
Rosemary Sadlier–Mary Ann Shadd: Publisher, Editor, Teacher, Lawyer, Suffragette

Workshops, cultural performance, vendors, poster displays
Join with scholars, artists, historians, preservationists, educators, students, community members and others to explore how the forces of gender, class, race and ethnicity have influenced the UGR and movements for freedom that have arisen in its wake.

February 28
2-hour tour of Troy’s UGR and African American heritage sites

A complete listing of pre-conference activities, workshops, speakers,
accommodations, sponsors and directions is available

REGISTER at www.ugrworkshop.com or 518-432-4432

Previous conferences:
2009 The Underground Railroad, Its Legacies, and Our Communities
2008 The Underground Railroad - How It Worked: Two Centuries of Escape,
Resistance, and the UGR Across the Continent".
2007 Underground Railroad: Uncovering the Voices of Women
2006 The Underground Railroad: Connecting Pathways to Liberty
2005 The Underground Railroad: Discoveries and Emerging stories
2004 The Underground Railroad: Quests for Freedom
2003 The Underground Railroad: Movement And Context
2002 Telling the Untold Story: The Underground Railroad In Albany and the
Surrounding Region

I mention this every year for only three reasons:

1. I've gone to these events in the past and they are always very worthwhile attending.
2. The subject matter, I believe, is important.
3. Mary Liz and Paul Stewart, the organizers of the event, and indeed the co-founders of the Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region, are good friends of mine.

I have a fourth reason this year: I'm doing one of the workshops on Saturday afternoon. So sign up already!

(n.b. - I took off from work Monday to finish off this presentation. Instead, I stayed home with a sick child; not nearly so productive. This to say that if the blog posts are a little terse for the next few days, that's why.)
***
African American Newspapers: Catalysts for Social Change
Thursday,February 25th, 12:15 - 1:15 PM
Location: Librarians Room, 7th floor, Cultural Education Center, Madison Avenue, Albany (New York State Library)
Register Online

African American newspapers provided vital information to the African American community by reporting stories from a perspective often ignored by their counterparts. During the Great Migration era, many subscribers in the south depended on news reports from northern publications for an accurate picture of northern life and opportunities for African Americans. In this presentation, Cordell Reaves, Historic Preservation Program Analyst at the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, will explore the impact of some of these publications and how they shaped African American life primarily during the early to mid-1900s. Bring your lunch.
ROG

F is for February

2010-02-23T05:04:00.009-05:00

Amethyst, the February birthstone

Generally, when I do one of these ABC Wednesday things, I want to convey info that either I don't think the reader knows, information *I* don't know (or have forgotten), or possibly both. So what about February conveys that? certainly not Valentine's Day. Black History Month is too broad. So after even more filtering, I came up with these questions.

What, or who, is February named for? I know that September-December are designated by the 7th through 10th prefixes. July and August are named for the Caesars Julius and Augustus. January, March, May and June come from various Roman and Greek gods, Janus, Mars, Maia, and Juno, respectively. April has something to do with the word open, possibly the same root as Oster/Easter, and/or for a variation on the goddess Aphrodite.

But what of February? The Wikipedia notes: February was named after the Latin term februum, which means purification, via the purification ritual Februa held on February 15 in the old Roman calendar.

OK. So why is it poor February that gets to be 28 days some years and 29 on others? This is something I used to know: February used to be the last month, and so would be the month that would be lengthened or shortened to make the calendar work out. "January and February were the last two months to be added to the Roman calendar, since the Romans originally considered winter a monthless period."

Did you know that the year 1900 was not a leap year and that 2100, 2200 and 2300 will NOT be leap years?
"In the Gregorian calendar, the calendar used by most modern countries, the following three criteria determine which years will be leap years:
1. Every year that is evenly divisible by four is a leap year;
2. of those years, if it can be evenly divided by 100, it is NOT a leap year, unless
3. the year is evenly divisible by 400. Then it is a leap year."
So, all of you who will be around in the year 2100, remember that. Expect many misprinted calendars and confused computers.

Why the heck is February so often mispronounced Febuary? The answer: "Although the variant pronunciation (fĕb'yū-ĕr'ē) is often censured because it doesn't reflect the spelling of the word, it is quite common in educated speech and is generally considered acceptable. [It IS?] The loss of the first r in this pronunciation can be accounted for by the phonological process known as dissimilation, by which similar sounds in a word tend to become less similar. In the case of February, the loss of the first r is also owing to the influence of January, which has only one r." Other examples given: "beserk" for berserk, "supprise" for surprise, "paticular" for particular, and "govenor" for governor. But they left out the most important examples: "libary" for library, and "libarian" for librarian.

A pop song about when "the music died", of course, is American Pie, which has this lovely couplet:
"But February made me shiver With every paper I'd deliver."

Here's the poem February by Margaret Atwood, which ends: "Get rid of death. Celebrate increase. Make it be spring." Amen to THAT!

ROG

February Ramblin'

2010-02-22T05:20:00.000-05:00

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Roger Ebert's Last Words, con't, commenting on the Esquire article (linked) and photo of him. "Resentment is allowing someone to live rent-free in a room in your head."

How the Somaly Mam Foundation is trying to help end human trafficking

Wayne John tells about the time when a Burger King employee threw a double cheeseburger at him. Lousy aim, too.

Gordon reveals Dymowski and DeNiro - together.

Lady Gaga or Johnny Weir? "Can you tell the difference between the pop princess’ outrageous outfits and the Olympic skating star’s flamboyant costumes without seeing their poker faces?" You Olympics watchers who see figure skating only once every four years have no idea...

Springsteen covers.

And SamuraiFrog has three recent pieces worthy of mention, about Kermit the Frog and friend,Christina Hendricks - no, I've never seen Mad Men, either - and a particular Super Bowl ad which also annoyed me. (Should note that, on the latter two pieces, his language is coarser than mine.)

This next section is graphic.

Western New York Legacy web site, www.wnylegacy.org, is freely available online, and contains thousands of digital images, documents, letters, maps, books, slides, and other items reflecting the rich cultural heritage of Western New York

Print & Photographs (P&P) online catalog: Some photos copyright free (and some not).

Rose DesRochers – World Outside my Window: Free Cartoons for Your Blog, two examples of which appear in this very post.

Courtesy of Past Expiry Cartoon

ROG

Movie music QUESTION

2010-02-21T05:09:00.003-05:00

It's no secret that my favorite movie music is from West Side Story. I'm also quite fond of Fiddler on the Roof. But it occurred to me: these are Broadway musicals adapted for the screen. What do I like the best that's MOVIE music?

Difficult question. But, excluding the Beatles - I've recently seen again A Hard Day's Night and Help! - here are some examples:

This is the famous Germans bomb Pearl Harbor speech by John Belushi from Animal House. But try to listen to it without the dramatic music of Elmer Bernstein, and I think it falls flat. In fact, throughout the film, Bernstein, who's probably best known for the score for The Magnificent Seven (a/k/a the Marlboro theme), has all sorts of flourishes in this movie, giving the dopiest action a counterpoint.

Quality of Mercy by Michelle Shocked from Dead Man Walking. I THINK this was written for the film (though this performance is not), as opposed to what the compilers of the music of, say, Easy Rider, called "found music", existing songs put on a soundtrack.

Forrest Gump, BTW, is the worst example of that trend; it's not that the songs are bad, only that they're obvious. California Dreamin' by the Mamas & the Papas, Mrs. Robinson by Simon & Garfunkel, For What It's worth by Buffalo Springfield, and Get Together by the Youngbloods? I mean, I already own all of those songs; not everyone does, but some Time-Life collection might have been a better venue.

Ridin' the Rails by k.d. lang and Take 6 from Dick Tracy, a movie I never saw. I'm a sucker for trains, and songs about trains.

The Funeral from Cry Freedom. This is a bit of a cheat. The bulk of the song is the anthem Nkosi Sikeleli Africa (God Bless Africa). But it is the most stirring version I know, taking place after South African activist Stephen Biko's death. (It starts at 2:25 on the video.)

But the movie music I have the greatest, perhaps irrational attachment for, is from the film The Night They Raided Minsky's, which I saw with my friend Carol and her friend Judy when I was 15 in 1968. I had a mad crush, unstated, for Judy. The film was rated M, a precursor for PG. Because I have the soundtrack, I can admit that though I haven't seen the film in 40 years, I know this song, and others in the movie, by heart:
TAKE TEN TERRIFIC GIRLS (But Only Nine Costumes)
I have a secret recipe
Concocted with much skill
And once you've tried my special dish
You'll never get your fill

Take ten terrific girls
But only nine costumes
And you're cooking up something grand

Mix in some amber lights
And elegant scenery
Then stir in a fine jazz band

Then add some funny men
And pepper with laughter
It's tart and tasty I know

Then serve it piping hot
And what have you got?
A burlesque show!
Music: Charles Strouse Lyrics: Lee Adams

What movie music moves YOU?

ROG