Let's Talk About Sex

A couple guys at the gym were talking about a recent Oprah show featuring Doctor Oz, who promotes living longer, and feeling younger through a variety of some familiar ideas, and some not so common ones.

From Oprah's website:
Question 10: According to Dr. Oz, how often should you have sex?
A) Once a week
B) Twice a week
C) 10 times a month
D) 200 times a year or more

My compatriots were pleased to discover that the correct answer is D.

"If you have more than 200 orgasms a year, you can reduce your physiologic age by six years," Dr. Oz says. He bases the number on a study done at Duke University that surveyed people on the amount and quality of sex they had. "They looked at what happened to folks that are having a lot of intercourse over time, and the fact is, it correlated." For you math-deprived folks, that's four times a week.

Among the benefits of having sex often, Dr. Oz says, is that it can prove that your body is functioning as it is supposed to. "But in addition, having sex with someone that you care for deeply is one of the ways we achieve that Zen experience that we all crave as human beings," he says. "It's really a spiritual event for folks when they're with someone they love and they can consummate it with sexual activity … seems to offer some survival benefit."

So, it's not the act of sex as exercise that will help one lose weight - one only expends an average of 25 calories. It is that satisfying one appetite center of your brain (desire for sex) can help satisfy another (desire for food).

I wonder if any of my buddies made a point to mention this when they got home?
***
I come across all sorts of things that I consider for my blog here. But then the internal censor kicks in, and I don't use them, not because it offends me, but because I wonder if it might offend you.

For instance, I came across this story some time ago about a condom fashion show in China, designed to get more Chinese to use prophylactics. I wasn't sure it was even real until I saw stories such as the one here. Still, I let it go until I read stories posted by Rose, a good, respectable blogger, about velvet vulva purses and Japan's penis festival, the latter an ancient tradition which currently raises money for AIDS education.
***
Speaking of condoms, the magazine Ad Age has been chastising television the past couple weeks. For while there are more sexual acts on TV, there are still major restrictions on advertising condoms. One of the articles can be found here.
***
At the website/podcast Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Lawful Life, Legal Lad(TM) discusses all sorts of useful information, including Plea Withdrawal (see Larry Craig) and Nudity in Public Places.
***
I came across the ill-named Hornitos. Somebody was paid good money to come up with that brand name?

ROG

The Snowstorm of October 4, 1987

SOME FLAKY TALES ABOUT A REALLY FLAKY TIME
Times Union, The (Albany, NY)
October 4, 1997
Author: MARK McGUIRE Staff writer

It was more than a storm; it was a touchstone. The Capital Region has endured its share of severe weather, from blizzards to severe windstorms to even the occasional tornado and hurricane. This one wasn't even the worst.

Certainly more snow has fallen at one time than the 6 inches that came down on Albany on Oct. 4, 1987. But the damage it caused, and its totally unexpected fall arrival, left a mark on the region and its psyche.

But we don't have to tell you: You told us.

The Times Union solicited readers to send in their stories from the storm. And you did, in the form of hundreds of e-mails, a likewise number of calls, a letter from prison, even a drawing from a then-5-year-old.

The stories are uniform and unique, of weddings canceled, cars destroyed, days without power, food spoiled, babies born and camping in living rooms. These tales almost invariably start with disbelief, then spiral into different recollections of perseverance and hardship and compassion and humor.

"The snowstorm was one of those events, not unlike one of those national tragedies (JFK assassination, Challenger disaster) in that, if you were there, you remember," Roger Green of Albany wrote. "I've been to many parties where people compare their snowstorm stories."

Everybody does have a story. Here are but a few:

Here's mine - I was living in the West Hill section of Albany, on Second Street, between Ontario and Quail Streets. Since I was home on that Sunday morning, watching CBS Sunday Morning, I must have been having one of my periodic spats with the pastor [who is NO LONGER THERE]. Suddenly, the power went out, and immediately after I got outside, I could tell why. A branch on a tree landed on the power wire leading to my house was pulled out, fortunately along the side of the house so I wouldn't accidentally get electrocuted.

Later that day, I walked to work at FantaCo, which, a dozen blocks away, never lost power. The weird thing about that storm is that lots of people never lost electricity at all, or only for a few minutes, while some people were without it for days, or even a couple weeks.

Sunday night, I stayed at a friend's house.

Monday, walking to the store, there was this beautiful disconnect. Sunny weather, this foreign white stuff on the leafy trees. And steam - lots of steam. I remember thinking at the time that it had what I imagined was rather post-apocalyptic. I wish I had taken pictures, for I found it eerily beautiful.

I bought the local newspaper, which looked...different. The Times Union building on Wolf Road lost power because of the wet heavy snow, so the TU and sister paper The Knickerbocker News put out a joint newspaper out of the Troy offices of their rival, the Times Record (now the Record). It was in the Times Record fonts. I still have that newspaper, somewhere in the attic.

Monday night, I stayed at home. By then, I had put my perishable food in the snow outside, and fortunately, the gas stove was working, so I ate some of the food I had purchased only the day before the storm. I listened to TV via my battery-powered radio by candlelight. One revelation: the TV show Cagney and Lacey depend on visuals, as well as dialogue.

Tuesday, after work, I stayed with another friend, and Wednesday, after work, with the first friend.

Thursday after work, I was increasingly excited to see that the light at Central and Quail was finally working, and Clinton and Quail, and Second and Quail. YES! Power was restored to my house! My perishable food was ruined, since it had reached 70 degrees outside, but at least I could safely buy more.

The strange thing about this storm was that it was highly localized. Some of the surrounding area had more than a foot of snow and a federal disaster declaration was issued. Ask people in Syracuse or New York City about this storm and they have no idea. It was more like the Buffalo snowstorm of 2006.

ROG

Ron Miller

If you Google Ron Miller, the one I was looking for doesn't show up until record #70-something. That's a shame.

Ron Miller was a songwriter for Motown. He wrote a number of tunes, many for Stevie Wonder, including "For Once In My Life," "Heaven Help Us All," and "Yester-me, Yester-you, Yesterday". "For Once in My Life" won a Grammy this year when Wonder and Tony Bennett redid the tune. Stevie's Christmas album from the 1960s is filled with Ron Miller tunes. He also penned that Diana Ross hit, "Touch Me In The Morning.”

As Fred Hembeck noted a ways back, Ron even wrote and produced songs for that legendary Motown artist, Soupy Sales.

Strange thing. I can't any reference to his birthdate in 1933. He died back on July 23, 2007, when I was traveling a lot, and pretty much missed the news.

But I wanted to note that, unfortunately, he also wrote one of my all-time least favorite songs, I've Never Been To Me, a tune the thought of which makes my teeth rot. Go here to hear the 2004 Dance Remix by Charlene, who had the delayed hit, and by Miller himself.

(Pic from Taxi.com)

ROG

Sputnik and Little Rock

I just discovered that two things that happened when I was 4 1/2, external to my immediate surroundings, but with long-lasting effect on me, both took place within a two-week span.

September 25, 1957: Nine black students safely entered Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, after President Eisenhower sent in federal troops to deal with a mob that interfered with a federal court order for the school to integrate. At the beginning of the school year, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus had ordered the state's National Guard to stop any black students from entering the school, a decision that was countermanded by the federal judge in the case. The story is well told in a son made popular by Pete Seeger, and performed for a time by my father, State of Arkansas; the third verse I especially remembered without assistance:
"Three hundred National Guard were there
Dressed up to fight a war."

Even at that age, I knew that race mattered. I was also vaguely aware that the federal government was doing an extraordinary thing that was not universally popular. This led me to believe in the innate goodness of the federal government, a notion that has been dashed time and time again in the intervening years.

October 4, 1957: Sputnik was launched, beginning the space race, which was seen, in part, as an extension of the arms race.

As writer John Noble Wilford put it: "Sputnik changed everything - history, geopolitics, the scientific world." Certainly, the headway made by the "Commie Ruskies" colored my entire time in school. It fueled competitiveness to learn, but also exacerbated a Cold War paranoia that we'd all die by some entity, unseen until it was too late. I used to do these "Duck and Cover" exercises:

My wife was listening to the "duck and cover" drill that I played, and it was scary to her.
I've complained that current politicians like to deal in fear mongering, but on reflection, I grew up learning to be afraid of the Commies. It may be that the "counter culture" of the late 1960s was as much a reaction to that paranoia of the 1950s and early 1960s as it was to the promotion of civil rights and opposition to the Viet Nam war.

These two events, one of civil rights and the other a specter of war, taking place before I was in kindergarten, had a huge, and continuing effect on me that I hadn't fully appreciated until now.

Rooting interest

I have to have a rooting interest in every round of the baseball playoffs, now that the Mets went 5 of their last 17 to join the 1964 Phillies, ironically, as team providing one of the most mortifying collapses in baseball.

Cubs - because they're the Cubs
Padres - because my sister lives there
Yankees - because they are a NY team
Phillies - because they deserved to get to the playoffs
Red Sox - 1 WS in 90 years isn't exactly a dynasty
Angels - possibly the best team
Rockies - mostly because I know little about them except that their stadium (and altitude) produces good hitting
Indians - mostly because, when I went to Cleveland in 1998, I couldn't get in
Diamondbacks - they play in the desert.
ROG

Book Quiz!

Jaquandor did this quiz around the time a couple months ago when people were shocked, SHOCKED that Americans aren't reading books like they used to. Actually, I do sympathize. I joined a book club through my [former] church for about a decade (1986-1996), and that forced me to read 10 books a year. Not only that, I was required to read genres that I wouldn't have necessarily read on my own, such as fantasy or home improvement, instead of my usual non-fiction selections of biographies and books about music, movies, sports and history. Now I read maybe 3 or 4 books a year, and the year Lydia was born, quite possibly only the Bradley method book.

I mean, in my job, I read all the time, but it's not whole books. It's reports, book sections and reference material.

Of course, I'm taking this to mean books I read for myself. I read lots of books to Lydia, at least a couple per day.

What are you reading right now?

The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders' Cure for Royalism by John Nichols.

Do you have any idea what you’ll read when you’re done with that?

Probably A Day Apart: How Jews, Christians and Muslims find freedom, and joy on the Sabbath by Christopher D. Ringwald, who I know. But I still need to get back to Shrub by Molly Ivins, which I was reading before I read that Stax book, Soulville, U.S.A.

What magazines do you have in your bathroom right now?

At any give time, Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly or Jet, though my wife and my daughter are always bringing them out and giving them to me. when I was growing up, we ALWAYS had magazines in the bathroom, a wicker basket with my mother's Ladies' Home Journal; I always used to read "Can this marriage be saved?"

What’s the worst thing you were ever forced to read?

Don't know that it was the worst, but Johnny Tremain, a junior high assignment, sticks in my mind. So does Ivanhoe.

What’s the one book you always recommend to just about everyone?

I don't recommend books.

Admit it, the librarians at your library know you on a first name basis, don’t they?

Well, yeah, but it's mostly because I bring Lydia to the library to get videos and books. Also, because I'm on the board of The Friends of the Albany Public Library.

Is there a book you absolutely love, but for some reason, people never think it sounds interesting, or maybe they read it and don’t like it at all?

You mean, besides the World Almanac, which I find utterly fascinating?

Do you read books while you eat?

No, maybe newspapers or magazines. I don't want food to get on the book.

While you bathe?

No, but I shower, so it seems impractical.

While you watch movies or TV?

Not movies. TV- rarely; usually periodicals during baseball.

While you listen to music?

Yes.

While you’re on the computer?

Only if engaged in downloading or uploading something that will take a while.

While you’re having sex?

What?

While you’re driving?

No.

When you were little, did other children tease you about your reading habits?

Yes, and not just children. My own family who labeled me Mr. Encyclopedia. People used to come visit my parents, so I would dutifully come out of my room, say hello, then go back to my room to read. My sister once insisted that if the house were on fire, I wouldn't notice because I was so busy reading. This was not true; the power would probably go off, and I would have noticed that.

Whereas the kids in school, some of whom I still know, seemed to have valued the written word.

What’s the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was so good you couldn’t put it down?

It's been decades; I don't remember.

BTW, it's Banned Book Week; here's what's happening in Albany on Saturday, October 6, with a link to events nationwide.

ROG

Roger Answers Your Questions, Scott and Gordini

The blogger Scott, husband of Marcia and father of Nigel, one of those people who still cares about the NHL, was kind enough to ask:

1. What do you think are the chances of us seeing another "Subway Series" this October?

You must have me mistaken with someone who has any idea. I had the St. Louis Cardinals losing every round they played (and won) last year.

That said, highly unlikely. In fact, much to my surprise, I think the Yankees have a better chance of getting there than the Mets, much to my disappointment. I’m rooting for the wild card to come out of the NL West (and for the Mets to win their division) because I think THEY think they can’t beat the Phillies in a second round matchup, whereas the Yankees could beat Boston, if they get past the first round. Though the Yanks have had a difficult time with the Angels this season, so if the Angels beat the Red Sox, the Yankees may be in trouble. Incidentally, yesterday was the centennial of the birth of original Angels' owner, Gene Autry.

(When you asked a few days ago, the Mets were up by 2 games. Now they're tied with a game to go, with no guarantee that they'll even get IN the playoffs.)

2. What do you consider your favorite TV Drama of all-time?

Quite possibly St. Elsewhere, although Hill Street Blues and Homicide are up there. My favorite show as a kid, though was the Defenders, a lawyer show with E.G. Marshall and a pre-Brady Bunch Robert Reed. I was also fond of East Side/West Side with George C. Scott. There was an anthology show called The Bold Ones, and The Senator segment with Hal Holbrook was great, got Emmy love, but it lasted but a season. Was Twilight Zone a drama? That gets its own special mention.

3. What do you consider your favorite TV sit-com of all-time?

The Dick van Dyke Show. The perfect balance of home life and work life. Great physical comedy by DVD. MTM's capri pants. And Richard Deacon from Binghamton, NY. Lasted five years - not too short, not long enough to wear out its welcome, which I'm afraid M*A*S*H, arguably a better show in its prime, did for me.

Though I must give some consideration to the Mary Tyler Moore Show, with a magnificent evolving cast, also did home and work well, as did, now that I think of it, the Bob Newhart Show, the one where he plays the shrink.

A comedy that evolved into a good show was Barney Miller, which scrapped any real pretense of a home life after the first season (Barbara Barrie played Barney's wife), and found its voice.

4. What scares you the most about Lydia growing up?

I suppose I'm dreading that inevitable teenage period when she thinks I'm an irrelevant, archaic druid. But I have to say that the great thing about having no idea what you're doing as a parent - in that most of my preconceived notions about fatherhood could be tossed into the Dumpster - is that I don't think too much about her Growing Up; I'm trying to take care of her Now.

I am reminded, again, about racism and racialism. I had never heard the latter term until I watched some Nelson Mandela speech right after he was released from prison. Some people use the terms interchangeably, but I feel a distinction. To me, racism is blatant inequity under the law or in society; e.g., the Jena 6 charged more harshly for their crimes than the white students who had assaulted black kids. Whereas, racialism is more the "damn fool" things people say and do, such as Bill O'Reilly.
I just started reading Anti-Racist Parent. By "just", I mean yesterday; interesting stuff.

Back to TV: Lydia decided just this week that she wanted to put on her right sock, then her right shoe, left sock and left shoe. This reminded me of a conversation that Mike Stivic had with Archie Bunker (a sock, sock, shoe, shoe guy) on All in the Family; that was a good show, too.
***
Meanwhile, blogger Gordon, newly re-minted Chicagoan, podcaster, and most importantly, March Piscean, writes: "OK, well, here's a question that I think you can answer: do you ever have a moment where you think 'I'm so full of hot gas?'"

Immediately, I started writing this rambling epic indicating how there are several areas where I have no opinions at all, that the opinions I do have are often based on reason and experience, and that I don't love the sound of my own voice as much as many do. I noted how, in keeping with a conversation he and I had privately, that I read other viewpoints; in fact, I spent some time this week listening to some of the speeches on the White Nationalist News Network, which I found by clicking Next Blog.

I addressed how an old girlfriend accused me of Male Answer Syndrome, which I rejected, not because it wasn't possibly true, but because the thing I was answering (about alpacas being more pleasant than llamas) I actually DID know from research in my job. (And not so incidentally, claims that I have MAS has dropped SIGNIFICANTLY since I appeared on that game show. And there was other stuff about my good listening and observing skills.

But, sure, OK, don't we all feel like we're fakin' it sometimes? Don't at least many of us feel as though we're about 11 and are pretending to wear grown-up clothes periodically?

So, Gordon, I could have just said "Yes." But somehow, I thought you wanted a little more than that.
***
Oh, and another one of my favorite reads, Tom the Dog, who has been on one more game show than I have, says nice things about me. Right back at you.

ROG

The Candidates QUESTIONS

This is an audience participation thing, or as Frank Zappa once put it, "enforced recreation."

1. Go to http://www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html and answer the questions, but leave your intensity about the issues at Medium.

2. Cut/paste and send me the results (or post on your blog, and let me know in the comments section.)

3. Re-vote, but this time, indicate the intensity of your position.

4. Cut/paste and send me THOSE results (or post on your blog, and let me know in the comments section.)

Before revealing my picks, you'll note that there is something called the Composite Candidate: "The calculator compiles the most popular responses from all voters to create a composite candidate, a candidate whose views match most with the average responses of users."

Composite Candidate
* Delaware Senator Joseph Biden (D) - 43.48%
* Illinois Senator Barack Obama (D) - 41.30%
* Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson (R) - 41.30%
* Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd (D) - 36.96%
* Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards (D) - 36.96%
* New York Senator Hillary Clinton (D) - 34.78%
* Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) - 34.78%
* New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (D) - 34.78%
* Businessman John Cox (R) - 32.61%
* Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel (D) - 30.43%
* Arizona Senator John McCain (R) - 28.26%
* Texas Representative Ron Paul (R) - 28.26%
* Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R) - 28.26%
* Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson (R) - 28.26%
* Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R) - 26.09%
* Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich (D) - 23.91%
* Kansas Senator Sam Brownback (R) - 21.74%
* Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo (R) - 21.74%

Also, there's a list of Most Top-Matched Candidates
* Gravel - 14.20%
* Tommy Thompson - 12.42%
* Romney - 10.95%
* Giuliani - 10.93%
* Kucinich - 10.52%
* Biden - 6.40%
* Clinton - 4.68%
* Cox - 4.47%
* Obama - 4.19%
* Hunter - 3.64%
* Dodd - 3.63%
* Fred Thompson - 2.66%
* Tancredo - 2.51%
* Paul - 2.16%
* Huckabee - 2.06%
* Richardson - 1.82%
* Edwards - 1.32%
* Brownback - 1.02%
* McCain - 0.42%

Now, here are my top selections, with no regard to intensity:
Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel (D) 100.00% match
Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich (D) - 94.74%
Illinois Senator Barack Obama (D) - 84.21%
Delaware Senator Joseph Biden (D) - 78.95%
Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd (D) - 78.95%
Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards (D) - 78.95%
New York Senator Hillary Clinton (D) - 73.68%
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (D) - 73.68%
Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson (R) - 57.89%
Businessman John Cox (R) - 47.37%
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) - 42.11%
Texas Representative Ron Paul (R) - 36.84%
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R) - 31.58%
Arizona Senator John McCain (R) - 26.32%
Kansas Senator Sam Brownback (R) - 21.05%
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R) - 21.05%
Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo (R) - 15.79%
Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson (R) - 15.79%

Whereas, when I add my intensity factors:
Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich (D) 96.88% match
Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel (D) - 81.25%
New York Senator Hillary Clinton (D) - 71.88%
Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards (D) - 68.75%
Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd (D) - 65.63%
Illinois Senator Barack Obama (D) - 65.63%
Delaware Senator Joseph Biden (D) - 59.38%
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (D) - 56.25%
Texas Representative Ron Paul (R) - 37.50%
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) - 28.13%
Businessman John Cox (R) - 25.00%
Arizona Senator John McCain (R) - 25.00%
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R) - 12.50%
Kansas Senator Sam Brownback (R) - 9.38%
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R) - 9.38%
Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson (R) - 9.38%
California Representative Duncan Hunter (R) - 6.25%
Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo (R) - 6.25%

Strange: Kucinich and Gravel, the two guys left off some recent Iowa debate, switch for the top spot, Clinton (who I've never voted for) moves from 7th to 3rd, and Obama falls from 3rd to 6th, but the Top 7 are still the Top 7, with Richardson 8th in both scenarios. One thing is for sure: I won't be voting for Tom Tancredo. Or for Sam Brownback, though I'd probably enjoy hanging out with him, based on his appearances on the Sunday morning talk shows.

A curious glitch: Duncan Hunter isn't on the first list (or on the composite candidate roster), while Fred Thompson's missing from the second.
***
"In his new book, The Evangelical President, Bill Sammon paints a riveting portrait of a president who is as committed to worldwide democracy as he is to his faith—and guided by legitimate principles that his critics aren't willing to understand. In this far-reaching book, Sammon details:
Why Bush believes the Republicans will hold the White House in 2008"

Interesting. Haven't read the book, probably won't read the book, but I'm beginning to come to the same conclusion.
***
Let the most popular candidate win: Instant runoff voting is simple and effective.
By John B. Anderson (1980 Presidential candidate)
***
I wish we could get as 72-25 vote, condemning Blackwater, something actually under Congressional budgetary control. Anyway, MoveOn has moved from Petraeus - Leave Petraeus alone! to a much more appealing target, Rudy Giuliani:

***
Pat Buchanan (!) on the hysteria that greeted the request of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to lay a wreath at Ground Zero.
***
If Bill O'Reilly Was a Rapper.

ROG

Lucy and Craig's Wedding

Carol and I received an invitation to the wedding of one of her sorority sisters in college this spring. The RSVP date was terribly early for a July 28 wedding, but whatever.

The wedding was held in Providence, RI, at the Brown University campus. I love the Brown University campus, because it is of the city, in the city, with no real demarcation. (Like the College of St. Rose in Albany, only MUCH bigger.)

After the Grandparents arrived to watch Lydia, we drove to the Rhode Island capital. We experienced severe rain (almost enough to pull over), beautiful sunshine, fog, more driving rain, then more beautiful weather. We stayed at a bed and breakfast on the fifth and sixth floor of one of the university buildings, then walked to get something to eat.

We walked by a woman wearing an overly long T-shirt that said "Frankie Said 'Relax'." What decade am I in, anyway?

The restaurant was nice, though there was a slow leak over where Carol was sitting. The most noticeable thing, though, is that all the women of the waitstaff looked alike. Quite attractive, slightly buxom, in their short black dresses. Most were dark haired, though some were blonde. One was black, one was Asian, but they had a uniform look, as though they were in some Robert Palmer video. Say, maybe Providence IS in the 1980s!

We got dressed for the wedding, walked to the chapel on the university grounds. Carol ran into a bunch of her sorority sisters, and some of the spouses were doing that "Oh, no!" eyeroll, but this actually didn't last too long.

The wedding was nice. One of the touches was that there was a very professionally-done color insert explaining the relationship of the wedding participants to the couple. Since both sets of parents were deceased, her godmother and his daughter lit the unity candle. Her godmother and her late husband had double-dated with Lucy's parents in the day.

Then the reception at a faculty club nearby. Great hors d'oeuvres and an open bar. The dinner was great, the music was fine. But the fascinating touch here was that at EVERY SINGLE PLACE SETTING of over 100 people, there was a picture of that person, in a frame! This included me, who neither the bride or groom had ever met. They found this picture from my blog or probably my MySpace page

and framed it. The manager in charge of the facility came to our table at one point and sighed in (mock?) indignation that the bride had shown up with 27 boxes of photographs the night before that had to be placed at specific locations.

Did I mention that the open bar lasted through dinner? I had a surprisingly good time. We each got a card so we could order pictures, if we want, but the first picture would be free - another nice touch.

We received their thank you note for our gift, postmarked within a month of the wedding, with a tri-fold brochure they made of their honeymoon in France - somehow appropriate, given that the French flag is "drapeau tricolore". Happy second lunaversary, Lucy and Craig.

ROG

Abuse

So, I check my e-mail yesterday, and I get this thing, time/date stamped 9/26 at 12:50 a.m.

Dear Roger Green,
Thousands of bloggers from around the world are joining together this Thursday, September 27th with a single message: Stop Abuse!

BlogCatalog would love for you to be one of them!

On Thursday, September 27th, post about any abuse topic you care about - child abuse, domestic abuse, animal abuse, drug abuse, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, political abuse - and let the world know you stand united with thousands of bloggers as part of the Bloggers Unite "Blog Against Abuse" campaign. Depending on your topic, you can even link to local, regional, national, or international organizations that you care about or support. Every post will count!

Badges & Banners
We have dozens of badges you can add to your post (or make your own):
http://www.blogcatalog.com/group/bloggers-unite/discuss/entry/badges-for-blogging-against-abuse-place-them-on-your-blog

Well, that's swell. I wish i had heard about it earlier. If I had had more time, I might have come up with something more cogent, but given the time limitation:
I OPPOSE ABUSE OF ALL KINDS

OK, I feel better.

Well, there is one thing:

It seems as though when Americans complain about abuse taking place in the United States, they're told, essentially, to shut up. "It's worse in Country X and Country Y." Perhaps true; indeed undoubtedly true. But this point is largely irrelevant to me, for the difference between abuse perpetrated in a foreign land and abuse produced by an entity of the government of the United States is that the latter is DONE IN MY NAME, so it particularly ticks me off.

By abuse, I mean everything from the waterboarding we're apparently not doing (any more) to excessive force by certain police departments to attempts to execute people without exhausting available DNA evidence. (Yeah, I oppose the death penalty generally, but these particular cases really raise my hackles.) So as our President Calls on the United Nations to Enforce Human Rights, here's hoping we make sure we clean up our own house as well.
ROG

The Lydster, Part 42: Out of Town

In August, my wife went down to Charlotte to visit my mother, dropping off Lydia at Carol's parents' house on the way. Lydia's cousins were there for much of that time. This meant that Carol didn't see Lydia for eight days, and I didn't for nine. We did try to call her every day.

I thought early on that this would be a chance to catch up on my stuff: my reading, my TV watching, some blog stuff. But I seem to have frittered much of it away as I came to realize that I was missing having them around. I mean, I knew I'd miss them, but I didn't know the missing would become a distraction.

Interestingly, as the period went on, Lydia, who could be taciturn on the phone, became downright verbose. It became clear to me that she really missed us, perhaps even feared that we were abandoning her. I say that because she's been much more affectionate, physically and verbally, than she was before the trip.

It's rather nice, but we've regularly reminded her of our support for her.

Happy three and a half, Lydia.





ROG

Elgee Arts

Somehow, it's become MY job to listen to a bunch of cassette tapes that were in my late father's possession. Mostly, they are pitches by people you've never heard of, recommending that folks get involved with one multilevel marketing plan or another, something that my father was susceptible of buying into. But there's also How To Be An Auctioneer (Dad was the first black auctioneer in the state of North Carolina), a 1983 episode of something called P.M. Magazine (Eddie Murphy's language offends! John Lennon biopic to be made!) There may be a tape or two in there of his music or writings. Naturally, most of them are unlabeled, or labeled so cryptically as to be meaningless. More than seven years after his death, the day before what would have been his 81st birthday...

Tomorrow, Lydia will be three and a half. So, my father's birthday is Lydia's half-birthday, and vice versa. In the Lydia-naming consideration process, which I detailed way back here, it had never occurred to me that my father, Les Green, and my daughter, Lydia Green, had the same first and last initials until Carol started labeling Lydia's things that she takes to day care LG.

For many of my father's enterprises, involving music, painting and flowers (in other words, NOT the MLM stuff), he referred to the business as Elgee Arts - LG. So, in one more way, I have this connection between my father and my daughter, even though they never had a chance to meet.

And since I'm taking about him, let me re-request any information about my father's - Leslie Harold Green - military service from May 1945 to December 1946 in a segregated unit in the European theater, as I described here.
***
There's this 46-year-old Carnegie Mellon professor who is dying. He seems to have a rather good attitude about it, probably better than what mine would be.


ROG

The Results of the Blue Jar Contest

My picks for the "How-To" Group Writing Project:

Eating Crow by Susan Wingate, the only "sure thing" based on the first read. She references murder and crows without going for the obvious "murder of crows" (a murder of crows is a collection of crows, cf. flock of sheep).
Contains Zero Trans Fat - Truth or Creative Advertising? by JoLynn Braley. Some of the info I knew, but there was enough that I didn't to make it worthwhile.
Testing Lessons by Debasis Pradhan. I could care less about testing software, yet I was entertained enough.

There were others that interested me
Top 5 ways to romance your blog by Phil Van Treuren. Corny.
How To Nail That Job Interview In The First Thirty Seconds by Martin Stoddart, which was more about how not to blow the interview, but useful.
How to Have a Great Movie Experience by Em Dy, which was probably fourth.
What the hell is a column inch: How to advertise in a local newspaper by Angela, which I knew about, but was still utilitarian.
How to Sleep on a Plane by Sheila, much of which I knew, but still helpful. And one of the ones, I predict, will win something.
How to Become a Human Calendar by Luciano Passuell, mostly because of its earnestness about the ease of the process, which I didn't find simple at all.

I also must say that I really dislike blogs where the ads show up before any of the content, but maybe that's just me.

ROG

"Great" Television

Today, the fall television season really begins. Oh, a couple shows debuted last week, but most of the ones I'll be watching are still forthcoming. So, Time magazine had their list of Top 100 shows. Really? We'll see about that. Thanks to Tosy and Mary; this was also tackled by Jaquandor.

24
Watched religiously the first season. First 13 shows created as great arc, then it floundered. First episode of the second season really turned me off, but I followed it sporadically. Now, I just read about it, rather than watching it, though I did see part of the great 5th season finale. I discovered recently that the very first monthly post about Lydia, back on May 26, 2005, was about not watching 24.

60 Minutes
Have watched religiously for most of its nearly 40 years(!) Now always recorded, and always have to "tape" the show after it in the fall when CBS has a "4 pm" NFL game, which never starts at 4, and certainly never ends at 7; I also have to be aware of the US Open tennis, or the Masters golf tournament for similar reasons. I don't know why I seldom watched 60 Minutes II, which got folded into the mothership a couple years ago.

The Abbott and Costello Show
Saw occasionally in reruns as a kid; would probably appreciate more now.

ABC's Wide World of Sports
Used to watch in its early years.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents
This was in reruns when I saw it, but Hitch, even more than the stories, scared me to death.

All in the Family
A great show, though it went downhill when the Stivic kid was born, and became largely irrelevant after Mike and Gloria moved to California.
Favorite moment: Archie begin kissed by Sammy Davis, Jr.

An American Family
Watched it at the time - devastating. Wonder how it'd play now.

American Idol
Season 1: saw last 4 weeks.
Season 2: saw whole season.
Season 3: saw whole season.
Season 4: watched after they got to the final 12.
I've given it up. What season are they on now, anyway? The "bad" auditions are unwatchable, because, of the thousands of people who try out, only a relative handful are chosen by the screeners, I think, to humiliate; it's so manipulated. Even if I go back to watching the talent portion some day, I'll pass on the early weeks.

Arrested Development
I tried to watch the first season, which people swore by, couldn't get into it. I tried again for the second season and it clicked. I watched it to the end; maybe I should try the first season DVD.

Battlestar Galactica
I assume this is the current series; have never seen.

The Beavis and Butt-Head Show
I tried to watch, failed.

The Bob Newhart Show
Classic.
I was going to say the best scene was the end, but then I realized it was from Newhart's NEXT show.

Brideshead Revisited
Tried to watch, failed.

Buffalo Bill
As I recall, loved.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Watched very rarely; saw some of the special episodes. Seemed pretty good.

The Carol Burnett Show
Classic.
Favorite scene: Gone with the Wind curtain dress.

The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite
I tended to watch Huntley-Brinkley a bit more, but when they split in 1970, it was Uncle Walter until he retired nearly a decade later.

A Charlie Brown Christmas
Yeah, though I'd argue with it even being on the list, I do watch it.

Cheers
This show not only survived the loss of one of its early stars (Coach), but thrived. I watched a little less when Rebecca replaced Diane and Robin Colcord was around, but yes, a classic.
Favorite moment: Sam is despairing that everything he does, he does to please the ladies. Then he's reminded that he likes the Three Stooges, even though "women hate the Stooges." He does that for himself; he's NOT shallow!

The Cosby Show
Tosy said: "Funnier in the early seasons than you may remember." About right.
Favorite moment: Rudy lipscynching to a Ray Charles song.

The Daily Show
I like it when I watch it, but I seldom watch it.

Dallas
I saw two episodes: "Who Shot J.R." and the resolution, for which I correctly picked the shooter. That was enough.

The Day After
Recall that it was powerful in 1983, or whenever; haven't seen since.

Deadwood
On pay cable. Have never seen.

The Dick Van Dyke Show
Classic. Quite possibly my favorite television show.
Favorite moment: Rob's convinced he and Laura got the wrong child at the hospital.

Dragnet
Really? I've seen at least two iterations of this. The early version was bland, the second, with Harry Morgan, was so corny, it was schtick.

The Ed Sullivan Show
Sure. Saw that Italian mouse WAY too often, though.

The Ernie Kovacs Show
Saw an episode or two as a kid; guess you would have had to have been there.

Felicity
Saw a handful of episodes, pre-haircut, not enough to remember.

Freaks and Geeks
Found this show a quarter of the way through and became a religious convert. I'm not one to say a show went on for too short a time - to everything, there is a season, and all that - but if I were to pick one show that suffered a premature death, it'd be My So-Called Life. Or maybe this.

The French Chef
The Ackroyd parody worked because it was so spot-on. It'd be on at 2 pm on Saturday afternoons, and I found it surreal.

Friends
Watched it for some seasons, gave up on it for a season, get sucked back in, get turned off. I was there at the end.

General Hospital
Never seen.

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
I saw this in reruns as a kid. Actually, as I recall, quite funny, in a corny way.

Gilmore Girls
Loved the core relationship: Rory-Lorelai-Emily. Loved the townspeople. especially loved Mrs. Kim, when she developed as a character. Sure, the show would get off track - Rory's refrain with Dean, e.g. I never believed. But I watched all seven seasons, and we even have Season 1 on DVD, albeit unwatched. The subject of one of my earliest posts, and undoubtedly others.

Gunsmoke
This show was on 20 years, and I probably saw half of them, from Dennis Weaver's Chester, to Burt Reynolds' Quint to Ken Curtis' Festus. Doc was always the same. Matt Dillon (James Arness, the brother of Peter Graves from Mission: Impossible) was larger than life. And what WAS his relationship with Miss Kitty? This was better than Bonanza, that's for certain.

Hill Street Blues
Probably lost it a bit near the end, but out of the gate, a great show.
Favorite moment: the off-screen death of Sgt. Phil Esterhaus.

Homicide: Life on the Street
Great show. Occasionally tough to take, such as the Vincent D'Onofrio episode.

The Honeymooners
I recognize its greatness, yet don't particularly appreciate it.

I, Claudius
Tried; failed.

I Love Lucy
I've seen any number of episodes. (Tosy, this has been in reruns for 50 YEARS and you haven't seen it?) It's of its time, so some of it is still hysterically funny, while other bits are dated. But Lucy WAS a great physical actor.

King of the Hill
Tosy: "I like King of the Hill and yet never, ever watch it (seriously, I think I've seen maybe five episodes). Not sure why that is." I've seen more like 20 episodes, but, no I don't watch it, yet I've appreciated what I've seen.

The Larry Sanders Show
When I had HBO, I watched it and liked it, then I didn't, and I didn't, except for the last episode, which I saw on rerun the night before I was to tape my JEOPARDY! episodes.

Late Night with David Letterman (NBC)
VERY occasional. Don't record it, don't stay up for it. (Though I did see the episode with Oprah, after his surgery, after 9/11...)

Leave It to Beaver
Watched in reruns as a kid. Never engaged me.

Lost
Have never seen, except bits and pieces. Yet follow avidly the storyline in TV Guide, etc.

Married... With Children
I watched one episode, hated it, never saw it again.

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
Thought it was very funny, yet wonder if it would age well.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Classic, from "I hate spunk" to the group retrieval of the Kleenex box.

M*A*S*H
A great show for six or seven years. Should have ended with Radar going home, early in season 8 (I think).
Favorite episode, rerun recently: a documentary being filmed.

The Monkees
Watched, liked well enough, didn't love.

Monty Python's Flying Circus
Watched occasionally. When it comes to comedy, I may be a Britophobe.

Moonlighting
The arc of this show has been well-documented; early was great, later was awful. I went to Jump the Shark and fully 2/3s of the voters picked when David and Maddie "did it" that did in the show.

MTV 1981-1992
Eh, this isn't a "show". Yeah, I watched videos a lot for much of that time.


My So-Called Life
Sob. I really liked this show, and it really felt like it was really finding its voice when it was cut off.

Mystery Science Theater 3000
Did people actually WATCH this? I'd flip through the channels, hit upon this for three minutes, laugh (or more often, not), and move on.

The Odd Couple
Classic.
Favorite episode: Password.

The Office [American]
Watch religiously. How has Michael not been fired, I'll never know.

The Office [British]
Haven't seen; I will, I will. I do recall, though, that there was a lot of badmouthing of the U.S. series before it even aired, which have largely gone away.

The Oprah Winfrey Show
I saw Oprah when she had Paul McCartney on, or when the Little Rock black kids who integrated the schools in 1957 and the white kids who taunted them reconciled. That is to say, rarely.

Pee Wee's Playhouse
Watched this. It was weird. Sorta liked it.

Playhouse 90
I probably saw this as a wee kid, but don't remember.

The Price Is Right
There was probably a year or two in college when I watched it more than I should have.

Prime Suspect
Saw at least a couple full seasons of this, but not lately. It was excellent.

The Prisoner
Watched religiously. Gordon, are you familiar with this show?

The Real World
Watched maybe three seasons of, I'm afraid to say, before I bailed. Season 3 was he infamous Pedro vs. Puck, with Judd referring.

Rocky and His Friends
Well, yeah! Mr. Peabody,and Sherman, and Fractured Fairy Tales.

Roots
Watched all eight episodes. Appointment TV, good, though occasionally tough to take.

Roseanne
Watched it early on, but it lost me somewhere along the way.

Sanford and Son
I watched it, but I was never sure why.

Saturday Night Live
I happen to think that Phil Hartman was the greatest performer ever on the show, and I was watching it from the beginning. Watch it far less now.

Second City Television
Saw it often after SNL. I liked the characters and actors more than the actual skits ofttimes.

See It Now
Saw, mostly in clips in TV obits.

Seinfeld
Watched for a few years regularly, always recorded -Thursday night is choir night. Pretty much gave up on it after Susan (George's finacee) died, though I'd catch a show here and there. Saw the last few episodes; was not impressed.

Sesame Street
I was in high school when this started. I watched this almost religiously for a couple years while I was in college, along with Electric Company and Zoom.
In fact, I have the 10th Anniversary Album, complete with "12 autographed photos suitable for framing", which I bought only because an earlier album went in the great Album Theft of 1972. Both albums had my theme song. Unfortunately, the early album had, and the latter doesn't have:


Sex and the City
Never saw it on HBO, only on the TNT version. Occasionally too precious, but I got enough enjoyment out of it.

The Shield
Watched big chunks of this the first and second seasons, not so much now. It was great show.

The Simpsons
Watched religious for nine years, off and on for the next nine.

The Singing Detective
Never saw.

Six Feet Under
Never saw. Based on the cast, probably would have liked.

Soap
I was watching the Tonys recently - yes, I know they aired in June - and Jay Johnson, who was on Soap, won a Tony for The Two and Only. A surreal series where Billy Crystal was actually funny. Lost its way at the end, certainly after the character of Benson left, but had a couple good years.

The Sopranos
Never seen, unless you count the last three minutes that I saw on YouTube.

South Park
I watched it three or four times, wanting to like it, but never really did.

SpongeBob SquarePants
Don't know why I don't watch; I like it on the rare times I see it.

SportsCenter
I could watch SportsCenter at least daily, preferably on tape immediately after it ends, so I can miss the lengthy teases and especially dopey segments such as "Who Is More Now?" - who commands the bigger buzz. But I don't, though I've been known to watch a half hour early Monday morning.

Star Trek
My father loved this show. I didn't get it until I started watching it in reruns.

St. Elsewhere
At least at the time I was watching it, my favorite dramatic television show. Have the first season DVD, of which I've seen two episodes that still look good. People are always surprised when I tell them Denzel Washington was on the show for its entire six-year run. One of the great series enders.

The Super Bowl (and the Ads)
Another odd choice - I've seen at least XXXVII of them.

Survivor
Watched the first season, which I rather liked. Saw the second season, which bored me. Saw part of the third season, gave up. May have seen the first and/or last episodes of a couple other seasons, but it's off my radar.

Taxi
Classic. Particularly loved the Reverend Jim.

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Saw now and then. Did see the last two episodes.

The Twilight Zone
I'm from Binghamton. I've met Rod Serling. I'm constitutionally required to not only watch Twilight Zone, but to like it.

Twin Peaks
I started watching it, but it got too weird.

The West Wing
I watched first three or four seasons, then lost interest. But did watch the last season, which was a suitable ending.

What's My Line?
Watched it a lot given the fact that I think it was on 10:30 on Sunday nights, as I recall. It was a great game show in its simplicity, so much so that a live version, not on TV, exists.

WKRP in Cincinnati
Classic.
"Oh, the humanity!"

The Wire
HBO show. Never seen.

Wiseguy
Did see at least some of it. Very good show, as I recall.

The X-Files
Saw maybe a half dozen episodes, which I liked and didn't in equal number.

Your Show of Shows
Even I'm not that old.
***
Alice Ghostley and Marcel Marceau both died recently. From her Internet Movie database page, I realize that I'd seen Ms. Ghostley in a LOT of stuff, not just Bewitched, Designing Women and Evening Shade, probably from at least one episode of half the television shows listed. Mr. Marceau I saw mostly in TV variety shows such as Ed Sullivan; sure, he was the "greatest mime ever", but name two others.

ROG

You Ask Me; I Ask You

It's time once again for Ask Roger Anything, this time with a twist. You get to ask me whatever, i.e., anything you want, and I have to answer. But I also am offering to pose questions to you to post on YOUR blog.

Here's one I got actually a month ago:

Thought of you as the only person with whom I could have a discussion about this -- it seems that more and more musicians are "selling out" and allowing their recognizable tunes to be attached to some product or other. In this week alone, I've heard REM selling something I don't remember, which doesn't seem to fit with everything I've read about Michael Stipe. But it really came home to me last evening when I heard the Corrs' "At Your Side" (from "In Blue," which admittedly is a little on the poppy side and not nearly as Irish as I would like) hawking the AARP!!!!

Just had to bring this to your attention, if it hasn't been already.
What's your opinion?

I replied: The evil facts are that it's increasingly difficult to be in the traditional marketplace. Thus, Moby sells most of the songs on his Play album, Macca is sold by a coffee company, JT is sold by a greeting card company, your man Bruuuuce was out there hawking some of his last albums on the Today show. [The Rising in 2002, and Magic this coming Friday.]
The thing specifically about the Corrs is that I don't know exactly how much control they have over their product. If they did "sell out", it'd be a good group to sell out to, since it's those 45-64 year olds who are still actually buying CDs in good numbers.

I found this article in Metroland that also responds to the point:
There's no such thing as selling out, says Duff McKagan of rock supergroup Velvet Revolver. "It gets harder and harder and harder for a rock group to make a living."
...McKagan points out, "Nobody is selling records like they used to. Even [Velvet Revolver's 2004 debut] Contraband sold only 3 million albums. [In the early '90s Guns ['N' Roses] and [Stone Temple Pilots] and Nirvana and Pearl Jam [were selling 8, 9, 10 million. Three million would have been only OK...
the newfound attitude towards "selling out", particularly among rock acts, is the product of this music-industry sea change. He cites licensing opportunities like commercials, movies and ringtones as alternative methods to make money off of tunes..."Since Iggy Pop did it, it's all OK, cause he's the dude," says Kagan. "God bless him, cause he hadn't made any money....

Now, here's the contract: if you give me questions, I promise to answer them within a fortnight, and to let you know that I did. If I give YOU questions, you promise to answer them in a fortnight, and to let me know that you did.

So, ASK me, OK?
***
Snakes on a plane.
***
Fred Hembeck linked to this story, which really got to me.

ROG

The New Television Season QUESTIONS

1. What new shows are you most looking forward to checking out?

For me, it's that nighttime soapy-looking Dirty Sexy Money on Wednesday nights on ABC, not because of the premise, but because of the cast: Peter Krause, Donald Sutherland, and Jill Clayburgh.

The show with the most buzz: Pushing Daisies, also on Wednesdays on ABC. Of course, "buzz" doesn't always equal quality.

What else is on Wednesdays on ABC, anyway? Oh, yeah, the Grey's Anatomy spinoff, Private Practice, which has a buzz too, but not such a good one. I'll have to watch it at least once, because of the luminescent Audra McDonald, pictured, before I bail; I'll probably end up watching Bionic Woman on NBC, if anything.

There's a show on Mondays on the CW (The CW?!) called Aliens in America, about a Pakistani Muslim exchange student, which will either be very good or very bad, but which I'll at least try. It has reviewed surprisingly well, so far, and it's got to be better than a show about the Geico Cavemen.

Finally, there's Back to You,b Wednesday on FOX. It actually started last week, and Ken Levine liked it, though Tom the Dog did not. I'll have to at least watch the premiere episode

There are probably others - better check my TV listings for the time and channel in my area.

2. What returning shows are you looking forward to seeing?

NBC Thursday night comedies: Earl, Scrubs, The Office. I'll probably even give 30 Rock another go. Last year I wrote: Watching Tracy Morgan on the second or third episode of 30 Rock doing some jivin' riff, I said, "I don't need this," shut it off in mid-episode, deleted it, deleted the next yet unwatched episode, and removed it from the DVR recording schedule. But I also noted that lots of people whose opinion I respect like it. And it did get some Emmy love.

Oh, and that dysfunctional family - I relate to dysfunctional families - on ABC's Brothers and Sisters Sunday nights. I'm not saying Sally Field deserved the Emmy more than, say, Edie Falco from The Sopranos, but I like her, I really like her in this show.
***
Upright Citizens Brigade on DVD, "The Return of America's Best Sketch Comedy Group".
***
Mr. Brown posed his own three TV questions, one of which hit on one of mine: What show will be canceled first? Entertainment Weekly picked Viva Laughlin, a "musical-dramedy", and I'm thinking it'll go early, but it's not even premiering until October 21, by which time that show with the Geico cavemen, I'm hoping, will have bitten the dust.

ROG

"The Trouble with Islam Today"

I love librarians. They have such interesting people at their conferences. I was flicking through the channels a couple months ago and hit upon the American Libraries Association conference held in late June airing on one of the C-SPAN networks.

Specifically, I was watching a dynamic woman named Irshad Manji who seems to have created a firestorm with her speeches and books, including The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith. It was interesting to see a strong Muslim woman staying within the faith, yet noting its shortcomings.

Rather than trying to recreate her points, I'll link to a blog report here from a "conservative" librarian, and this post, to give you a flavor of the talk.

At the end, she gave this five-minute recitation, from memory, of a poem from Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Oompah Loompahs declaring the evils of television, a short excerpt of which you can see here and/or here.

One of the things I found on Ms. Manji's MySpace page is the notion of ijtihad.

What is ijtihad?

Ijtihad (pronounced "ij-tee-had") is Islam’s lost tradition of independent thinking. In the early centuries of Islam, thanks to the spirit of ijtihad, 135 schools of thought thrived. Inspired by ijtihad, Muslims gave the world inventions from the astrolabe to the university. So much of we consider "western" pop culture came from Muslims: the guitar, mocha coffee, even the ultra-Spanish expression "Ole!" (which has its root in the Arabic word for God, "Allah").

What happened to ijtihad?

Toward the end of the 11th century, the "gates of ijtihad" were closed for entirely political reasons. During this time, the Muslim empire from Iraq in the east to Spain in the west was going through a series of internal upheavals. Dissident denominations were popping up and declaring their own runaway governments, which posed a threat to the main Muslim leader -- the caliph. Based in Baghdad, the caliph cracked down and closed ranks. Remember those 135 schools of thought mentioned above? They were deliberately reduced to four pretty conservative schools of thought. This led to a rigid reading of the Koran as well as to a series of legal opinions -- fatwas -- that scholars could no longer overturn or even question, but could now only imitate. To this very day, imitation of medieval norms has trumped innovation in Islam. It’s time to revive ijtihad to update Islam for the 21st century. That’s why we’ve created Project Ijtihad.

A couple thoughts came to mind when reading that:
* Yes, Islam is more diverse than some people have been telling us
* There are some forms of Christianity that seems to have been captured by politics that could do with some "ijtihad"

I haven't read Irshad Manji's book yet, but if it is as dynamic as she is as a speaker, it should be fascinating.
***
Conversely, Ann Colter has made me an offer I can refuse:
Here is how to tick off a liberal...just subscribe to Human Events today! (And you'll receive a FREE copy of The Truth About Muhammad - a $27.95 value.)
ROG

The ABCs of Music

Tom the Dog made this abecedarian list; actually, he's made at least three recently, and I haven't done one since Thanksgiving 2005, I don't believe.

So, these are songs I like. I think they're a bit goofy, not necessarily in a Weird Al or Dr. Demento sort of way (though one of the artists does appear on a Demento album I own). Some are actually good songs, though a couple are terrible.

ABBA- Waterloo. Yeah, I know, they rule, a top 10 group for Mr. Hembeck. But they're still a guilty pleasure for me.
Bee Gees-Jive Talkin’. Released before Saturday Night Fever, but included on the soundtrack, I find myself walkin' down the street like Tony Manero when I hear it, which really hurts.
Costello, Elvis-Chewing Gum. Elvis' birthday was last month and I was listening to Spike, my favorite EC album (and apparently no one else's). I said to one of my co-workers, "Get that chewing gum out of your ears!" She said, "Why DID you say that to me?" It was this song featuring the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
Doors-Touch Me. I'm not a big Jim Morrison fan; I went out with a woman (briefly) who was. Yet, I'm always waiting around for the "stronger than dirt" line.
Emerson, Lake and Palmer-Nut Rocker. At the end of the excess that was ELP doing Pictures at an Exhibition, the coda on the album was a variation on the Nutcracker Suite; a version is shown here. The song was originally done in 1962 by B. Bumble and the Stingers .
Focus-Hocus Pocus. This is a dopey, yodel-driven song by some Dutch band that was an unlikely hit. I bought the album. Check out a live version here.
Gore, Lesley- Judy's Turn to Cry. Lesley sang, "It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to." This is the vengeful follow-up. HA, Judy!
Herman's Hermits-Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter. When I joined the Capitol Records Club when I was 12, I needed to buy 12 albums. Since the Beatles had only a half dozen albums out at the time, one of my selections was The Best of Herman's Hermits. I used to do a fairly good Peter Noone impression.
Ives, Burl-Funny Way of Laughin'. I don't know why, but I've always been fond of those songs in which the protagonist pretends not to be crying, or doesn't want to be seen crying (the Temptations' I Wish it Would Rain comes to mind.)
Jackson Five-Maybe Tomorrow. An overwrought power ballad. I once requested this on a radio station and the DJ took it off before its peak overwroughtness.
Kinks-Skin and Bone. A swing tune about the dangers of dieting. From possibly my favorite Kinks album, Muswell Hillbillies.
Tom Lehrer-the Vatican Rag. This is the artist on a Demento album, the 1950s novelty song Poisoning Pigeons in the Park. But this song is from the great mid-1960s album That Was The Year That Was, which I own on CD. Bizarrely, someone posted on You Tube someone playing the LP on his record player, placing the tonearm on the first track for Part 1, continuing Side 1 and onto Side 2 on Part 2, more of Side 2 on Parts 3 and 4, and finishing up with the theologically incorrect Vatican Rag.
Marcels-Blue Moon. A big doowop hit in 1961.
Napoleon XIV: !Aaah-aH yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT. The backwards B-side version of the annoying They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa!, is also an unlisted final track on the CD Second Coming.
Ohio Express-Yummy Yummy Yummy. Is there a lyric so vapid as "Yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy, I've got love in my tummy"? Maybe their hit Chewy, Chewy, which has been used on TV commercials. I often confuse this group with the 1910 Fruitgum Company, their bandmates on Buddha, who had hits such as Simon Says; 1, 2, 3, Red Light; and Special Delivery.
Presley, Elvis-Hey Jude. A truly awful, out-of-tune version on a mixed CD that someone gave me. Listening to a train wreck.
Queen-Somebody to Love. It's that dramatic, harmonic beginning that I love.
Rascals-More. Talk about overwrought. From the Groovin' album.
Sinatra-The Lady Is a Tramp. Sometimes, Sinatra is cool (That's Life), and then there are times when Sinatra thinks he's cool; this is the latter.
Thomas, Rufus-Do the Funky Chicken. After doing at least four Dog songs, he moved on from canines to poultry. People will jump fences to do the Funky Chicken.
Utopia-Everything Is Going Wrong. Todd Rundgren's group did this great Beatles parody, Deface the Music; this is the last track, designed in the Strawberry Fields/I Am the Walrus mode.
Van Halen-Happy Trails. The last song on the only Van Halen album I've ever owned, this Dale Evans classic is performed goofily.
Who-Boris the Spider. I just like to say "Boris the spider" in the scariest voice I could muster.
XTC-Your Dictionary. This is not a goofy song, this is a nasty song I first heard on a mixed CD.
Young, Neil-Mr. Soul. Neil must have really liked this song. He first recorded it with Buffalo Springfield. Then a live version is the springboard for Springfield's Broken Arrow. The version I have in mind is the vocoder version on the much-maligned Reactor, which I love.
Zappa, Frank-Cosmic Debris. There are lots of Zappa songs that might have qualified, but this one has the great lyric, "Is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho?"
***
Teen death songs will never die.


ROG

You Be The Judge

I entered this "How To" Writing Contest recently. I'm supposed to pick the three - I assume not including my own - that I like the best by next Tuesday. So, what I'm requesting is for you to tell me what YOU think is best; I'll compare it with the five I've winnowed it down to. Please let me know what you think by Monday, September 24 at 9 pm Eastern Time. There's only one "lock" in my mind - do you want to guess which one? - so feel free to try to persuade me.

ROG

Talk Like a Pirate Day '07

Ahoy, ye mateys! Jolly Roger Green here with another Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Here ye find some Pirate quotes. Yo ho ho.

Some Willie Stargell quotes. (He be the pirate pictured.)

Pirates of the Atlantic game. Drink a bottle of rum, for I have not tried it meself.

And here's the account of the great pirate Roberto Clemente and his 3000th flogging:


If ye be looking for more Roberto Clemente quotes, I hoisted those last year. And I see that I never mentioned Clemente by name, yet that Scott sussed it out anyway, that scurvy dog.
***
Which brings me to my new favorite project: retrospectively labeling my posts. It's a tedious process, and I figure it'll take weeks or months, betwixt and between. But then I'll be able - and YOU'LL be able - to find articles on topics more easily than by search. At this writing, I've only labeled the pieces from from May 2 to July 12, 2005 and from January 18, 2007 forward; my goal is to be finished by my birthday in March.

ARRRROG