On Notice

A list of things/people that are currently bugging me, not necessarily in order of importance, but in order that they came to mind. Used recently by Gordon, and, in a somewhat different way, Lefty. Far be it from me to pass up an opportunity to create a quick post, especially when it has such a therapeutic aspect. And even better, I may be able to use it again in six months or a year.
Those of you that know what the first item is can probably guess the next two.
BTW, the Times Union headline for 8/11/2006, with the article covering the top 3/4s of the paper - that insignificant story about a plot to blow up 10 airplanes from U.K. to the U.S. being thwarted covering the final section - was "A son, a murderer"; the New York Post would have been proud. Conversely, the Gazette (from Schenectady) used something provocative such as "Porco Found Guilty".

On the other hand, I don't have to put "on notice" only the things that annoy me, but also the things that I like.
***
There was an article in the local paper recently about Sasha Cohen, which said she was the 10th most popular female athlete in the country. Since my wife likes figure skating, Sasha Cohen and especially Michelle Kwan, I thought I'd find the rest of the list, which is shown below. If you want other results of The Harris Poll® #47, June 8, 2006, go here.

FAVORITE FEMALE SPORTS STAR – TOP-10 RANKING

"Thinking about the female sports stars you like, which ones are your favorites?"
Base: All adults
2004/2005/2006
Venus Williams
1/3/1
Serena Williams
2/2/2
Mia Hamm
3/1/3
Michelle Wie
8/10/4
Danica Patrick
*/*/5
Michelle Kwan
4/4/6
Annika Sorenstam
5/6/7
Maria Sharapova
*/*/8
Anna Kournikova
6/5/9
Sasha Cohen
*/*/10
* Not listed in that year
Those who are new to Top 10 This Year: Danica Patrick (No. 5), Maria Sharapova (No. 8), Sasha Cohen (No. 10).
Those on the 2005 List Who Have Dropped Out of the Top Ten This Year
Lisa Leslie (was No. 7), Billie Jean King (was tied for No. 8), Martina Navratilova (was tied for No 8), Chris Evert (was tied for No. 9), Mary Lou Retton (was tied for No. 9).

TAGGED MEME: Books I've read

I'm trying to explain to my wife about the tagged meme. "You don't HAVE to do it," she said/asked. "No, but it's sort of a convention, a social contract." Scott of the Scooter Chronicles tagged me.

1: One book that changed your life: Probably mentioned before, but "Lying" by Sissela Bok. I've stolen outright this Amazon review, because it captures the book so well: "Sissela Bok challenges the reader to consider the effects of lying on the individual, relationships and society. The author systematically covers the spectrum of lies from 'little white lies' to avoid an unwanted dinner invitation to the arguably moral lies required to survive in a totalitarian state - taking the reader step by step through a journey of increasingly complex moral questions. The book argues that lying, as it is often conducted in society, often lacks the moral basis of those few cases where it can be justified."

2: One book you have read more than once: When I was a kid, I had this "I Spy" novelization I read repeatedly. It was where I learned the phrase "hoist by his own petard". There was also this 1931 sports anthology called "Play the Game", which featured Rogers Hornsby and others on baseball, Red Grange and others on football, legendary writer Grantland Rice on golf, plus a whole lot more. It's 350+ pages, and I still have it, though I haven't read it in decades.
As an adult, the ONLY book I've read all the way through more than once is the Bible, and I don't know if that counts, because one time was the King James and the other time was the Revised Standard Version.
I assume we're not talking about children's book, since Scott said he didn't have any, and I suspect he's read the same stories repeatedly to his son Nigel. A children's book I've read a lot BEFORE Lydia was "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" by Dr. Seuss.

3: One book you would want on a desert island: Almost assuredly, the Bible, the NRSV. Quoting Scott: "Considering I would be there quite a while and have time to think, it would a good opportunity to try and digest all of it."

4: One book that made you laugh: I have four Doonesbury anthologies, trade paperbacks. Maybe one of those. Although I remember borrowing one of Erma Bombeck's books from my mother on a visit, maybe "Septic Tank", and finding it surprisingly more entertaining in the collective than her daily column, even though the book was culled from them.

5: One book you wish had been written: "Growing Up" by Russell Baker. I always liked his style.

6: One book you wish had never had been written: Probably some neocon diatribe, but truth is, I tend to shut them out of my mind rather quickly.

7: One book that made you cry: I'm sure there have been some, but none come to mind.

8: One book you are currently reading: "The Genesis of Ethics" by Burton L. Visotzky. Our former pastor, Joe Shook, was giving away many of his books, and this one intrigued me. It's about why a bunch of not-necessarily-religious folks got together to read the first book of the Torah.

9: One book you have been meaning to read: Only one? "The Gnostic Gospels" by Elaine Pagels is one on my bookshelf.

10. Who to tag? Well, I thought of Greg, but he's been doing his book thing lately. Tom? Gordon? Fred and/or Lynn? Mark, a voracious reader? Sarah, who doesn't read books a second time? Tosy, from whom I steal memes all the time (and he from Jaquandor)? Lefty? Well, they can if they want, but I'd be most intrigued if THE most voracious reader I "know", which would be Kelly, would try it. And what the heck, Julie Hembeck can put it in her page as well.
***
I was sad to hear about the death of my grad school alma mater's University President, Kermit Hall. But never did I figure out that he had the same initials as his predecessor, Karen Hitchcock.
And even though I once referred to his "The Men in My Little Girl's Life" as a sign of the Apocalypse (the song went to #6 in '66), I was sad that Mike Douglas died last week on his 81st birthday. I used to watch him fairly regularly for a time, not just on John & Yoko's week.
From Dead or Alive, some famous people who died on their birthdays:
Ingrid Bergman - actress - Aug. 29 (1915-1982) - 67
John Banner - actor - Jan. 28 (1910-1973) - 63
Betty Friedan - author - Feb. 4 (1921-2006) - 85
Mike Douglas - talk show host - Aug. 11 (1925-2006) - 81
Mari­a Felix - actress - April 8 (1914-2002) - 88
William Congdon - artist - April 15 (1912-1998) - 86
Otto Kruger - actor - Sept. 6 (1885-1974) - 89
And in the "maybe, maybe not" category:
Stanley Fafara - actor - Sept. 20 (1950-2003) - 53

Summertime Blues

Sometimes, you just get a little blue.

My friend Dee is having a kidney transplant tomorrow. She is in my prayers.

My pastor and his wife, who was in the choir, left a couple weeks ago. I got to be very fond of them.

The woman in this picture, Naomi Anderson of Binghamton, died on the 4th of July. I was actually going to go to the funeral - I was sent the obit, and was actually in town for her funeral. But the e-mailed notice didn't mention WHICH Saturday the service was being held, and I arrived at my old church, which was locked. Not that I would have gone to Binghamton specifically for the service, but I figured that since I was there...

Won't even talk about work.

They're closing the Catskill Game Farm, which I went to when I was three and a number of times since, and which I figured I'd take Lydia to someday.

The thing that REALLY stressed me out most, though, involved Lydia. We had not given her any peanuts or peanut butter, but last Wednesday, she got some. It did not agree with her at all. When I got home, she was crying after throwing up. She threw up a second time, but more distressing, her left eye was far more closed than her right eye. I was afraid she was going into anaphylactic shock, or something. She has been sick before, but never was I as worried as I was that evening. Carol called our doctor, then went out to get her some Benedrill while I watched her. She threw that up, and about an hour later, threw up a fourth time after a small cup of water. Thursday, I took her to the doctor. We now carry an EpiPen.

The upsides: we have new pastors, the Leupolds, who start today; I'm serving coffee. My friend Cecily became a grandmother for the first and second times in the last two months with Henry Sinon, son of Jeff and Heather, and Katherine Lottie, daughter of Mike and Karen. And finally, Lydia seems to be OK. Of course, this means dumping Carol's beloved peanut butter - the doctor thought it should even be in the house until Lydia sees an allergist - but this is the price one pays as a parent.

That's Carol, my sister Leslie and my mom Trudy in Binghamton last month with the child.

***
This is my daily Julie Hembeck mention.

METAPHYSICAL QUESTION: Ain't That Good News?

My wife said to me one evening late last month, "Good news!" She proceeded to tell me that the $680 the state of New York thought we owed them, we didn't owe them. They made a transcription error and attributed to us some several thousand dollars more in income than we actually made. We are relieved, of course, but it got me to thinking: if they didn't screw it up in the first place, there would be NO news, which, as the cliche goes, IS good news.

Similarly, Scott at Scooter Chronicles noted how he ONLY spent a couple hundred bucks on his car. Since I suppose there will always be car repairs, getting off cheaply feels like good news. But let's take a more recent example in his blog: the bad news of his son Nigel's inability to sleep through the night. When he (actually, they - Nigel, Scott and Marcia) finally go back to sleeping through the night, it will surely seem like good news.

Someone has some sort of growth, but it turns out to be benign. Someone's in a car accident, but he or she suffers only minor cuts and bruises. Good news, yes?

I went to the Good News Network this week, and what do I find?
On this day in History, August 8:
John McCarthy, the British journalist held hostage in Lebanon for more than five years by Islamic Jihad was freed after more than five years in captivity (1991)
A cease-fire between Iran and Iraq was announced by The United Nations (1988) Good news following five years as a hostage and eight years of war, respectively.

So here is my metaphysical question: how often, in your view, does good news depend, in some shape or form, on the cessation of bad news (an unexpected tax bill, e.g.)? I think it's about 80% of the time. Please give me some good news, other than the a non-complicated birth of a wanted child, that is just good without being a response to a downside.
***
Good news: the Christopher Porco murder trial is over. For those not from around the Albany area, think about NOT hearing about the O.J. Simpson trial. You couldn't, no matter how you tried. And believe me, I tried. THE local media event of the year, by far.
***
The parents of Julie Hembeck turned me on to Lipton Green Tea with Citrus.

Bat-Woman

One of the great problems with hot, muggy weather and old houses in the Northeast is the emergence of bats in the living quarters. A couple weeks ago, I was in Binghamton attending Day 1 of my high school reunion. Carol and Lydia had been to the event, but Carol had gone back to the house of friends Cecily and John, put Lydia to bed, and the three of them were talking. Suddenly, a bat started flying around the living room. John chased it out of the room, and eventually trapped it. He may have accidentally killed it, and felt badly about that.

A couple nights later, on an extremely muggy Monday night/Tuesday morning, I was lying down in the guest bedroom, directly under the ceiling fan, but was not sleeping. Carol came in and thought there might be a bat in our bedroom. I got Carol my spare racquetball racquet from the office. Suddenly, the flying mammal was in the hallway, circling Carol, with her using the racquet to keep it at bay, AND to close the other bedroom doors. I found a shoebox in the office, which I used to change the bat's pattern. It flew towards the now-closed bedroom, flew back towards Carol, who (there's no better word) batted it down, and put the racquet on top of the bat. I took the shoebox and kept the bat on the floor while removing the racquet, slipped the shoebox top under the bat, and we sealed up the box, poking some holes in it. In the morning, Carol took it to the Health Department lab, where it was verified it was not rabid.

Those of you keeping score at home will note that this is now the FIFTH live bat in our house in five summers. You'd think we'd actually do something like this. We actually did the standing outside looking for the bats to return thing one night last year after that incident, but never saw them. Maybe we're just too impatient to wait around looking towards the roof for two or three hours for several nights at dusk or later trying to see a fast-flying creature.

We DID get our then-contractor to agree to bat-proof the attic last fall, but he never followed through (thanks a lot, guy). Carol talked to our new contractor about it. He thinks it's all a bit silly. After all, the chances of contact are minimal, and the chances of rabies are even more remote, he correctly noted. Carol replied that the chances of an untreated contact from a rabid bat being fatal is about 100%.

Bat-proofing: this year, for sure.
***
I wonder if Julie Hembeck ever had to deal with bats?

Fathers on film

I finally got around to watching that AFI special, 100 Years, 100 Cheers, about inspirational films. For whatever reasons, a few moments really touched me, two from the films themselves and two from the commentaries.

The first commentary was Jane Fonda talking about her father Henry, and how their relationship in On Golden Pond (a film I've never seen, though I've watched stage productions of it) between their characters paralleled their real-life relationship, how he got his only Oscar for that role, how he was unable to receive it himself, so she had to receive it in his stead, how she was so pleased to present the award to him personally, and how he died five months later. I knew these facts before, yet I found it surprisingly poignant in the retelling.

The second commentary was Sidney Poitier talking about Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and how he became cognizant of channeling the relationship with his real father in playing against the man who played his cinematic dad. Talking about this made him a bit emotional.

I've long been a sucker for the scene in Field of Dreams when the Kevin Costner figure asks his dad to play catch. But I was surprised how moved I was of the scene in To Kill a Mockingbird when the black folks in the balcony direct Scout to stand up: "Your father's passing."

There were others that touched me, I imagine, such as Poitier's frustrated Walter Lee Younger in A Raisin in the Sun. There was a production of A Raisin io the Sun when I was a kid, put on by the Binghamton Civic Theater, and my father was heavily involved in the behind-the-scenes stuff: set design, costuming, program design. Anyway, my father passed away six years ago today, and seeing those film clips were particularly resonant for me.
***
It was great hanging out with Julie Hembeck and her dad and mom recently. Details soon.

A Guest QUESTION: Electronic Love and Romance

A friend of mine, who reads this blog and knows the erudite sort that come here, is writing a book, and posits this:

I think we all have felt the seismic cultural shift has occurred with online dating that has created a lot of over 40 singles who have never married and many who say, "That didn't work. Oh well. Next!" We all have noticed the phenomenal shift in how men and women treat each other . What do you think? What is happening? Why is there such an increase in never-married single people? Because they think another someone is just a click away? Is it because we all think we can live to 100 so there is no hurry to settle down? Or is it because there's just so much fun to be had with so many? What needs to change?

You may find this site of interest. I'll be responding myself, but not until I've given you all a chance.
***
No Julie Hembeck news today.

short takes

Guest reviewer on Ebert & Roeper this week is the writer/director of the movie Jersey Girl, Kevin Smith. I think he did some other stuff, too. Last week, Jay Leno sat in for Roger Ebert, who's having medical issues.

My most recent cellphone gripe was somebody being way too loud in the cafeteria, not about their personal stuff, which is annoying enough, but about someone else's personnel issues. "Please make them stop," he said to no one in particular.

"Yesterday at the annual SpeechTEK conference in New York, Paul English announced in his keynote address the creation of a new "GetHuman Standard" for customer service phone systems. Microsoft and Nuance are working with Paul, and other companies are expected to join. Learn more about the Gethuman Earcon."

Here's hoping the loser of the Democratic primary for the US Senate race in Connecticut supports the winner. The Democrats' chance of being the national party in 2008 will not be helped by a third party run in 2006.

I got in the mail yesterday the Billboard Albums, which includes every album that made the Billboard charts through 2005. This makes my Top Pop Album book of a decade ago pretty redundant. I also have that Complete Directory to Prime Time Network Shows 1947-1992 by Brooks & Marsh gathering dust since I posted that list of shows on more than one network. So I will send these two older, but still useful, reference books to the first person who can e-mail me the correct answer to these two questions:
1. Angelina Jolie's uncle wrote a #1 hit that came out in 1966. What was it? And who performed it?
2. Based on the number of seasons it was broadcast and its audience size, 60 Minutes is the #1-rated program of all time, according to Brooks and Marsh. What's #2?

I see that this page is working again, no doubt due to the skills of the mother of Julie Hembeck.

Five Things: Monday Meme

Out of town for the fourth weekend out of the last five. Soon, I'll be writing about some of these adventures, I hope. Meanwhile:

From Jaquandor, via Tosy

Five things . . .

...in my refrigerator (without looking).
1. Lots of milk 2% organic for Lydia, 1% non-organic for Carol and me, but that may change.
2. Lots of yogurt,some for Lydia in the large (cottage cheese sized) containers, and some (single serving types) for me. (Carol steals Lydia's)
3. A can of cola I got, left over from a party.
4. Bread, because it'd get moldy on the counter.
5. Several types of pickles.

. . . in my closet.
I don't have a closet. I have an armoire, imposed upon me by my wife when the child came around and stole my closet. My sister came and reorganized it so I can't find anything.

....in my bag (this would be my backpack)
1. Music taken to or from work Currently- Tony Bennett, who turned 80 last week, Buddy Guy, who turned 70 last week, Complete Stax/Volt, Alison Krauss, the Band).
2. Underwear taken to the Y, or dirty clothes taken from the Y.
3. Loose change, because it otherwise makes so much noise in my pocket.
4. Some recent, but not current, periodical. Parts of Saturday's newspaper.
5. My spare glasses (my sunglasses when it's cloudy.

....in my vehicle.
My vehicle's my bike. There is nothing in it, and the only things on it when it's put away is the bike lock and the helmet.

...on my desk (at work).
1. Way too many loose papers.
2. Some newspapers from last week.
3. A picture of Carol, and trimmed photo of Lydia inserted therein.
4. A reference question I'm working on.
5. At least two pens, probably with no caps.

...on my walls (at work).
1. A picture of John Lennon.
2. A map of the United States.
That's about it. It's a small space.

....on my bookshelves (other than books).
1. A spindle of CD-Rs.
2. Census CDs.
3. A few comic books people have given me.
4. A few music CDs.
5. A stack of unsorted papers.

. . . I want to do in the next few years.
1. Read more books not geared toward children.
2. See more plays.
3. See more movies, if even at home.
4. See a Broadway play or two.
5. See more live baseball.

. . . On my nightstand.
1. A battery-powered push light in case the power goes out, so I can see.
2. A telephone receiver. Lydia has knocked the rest of it on the floor so repeatedly that we've unplugged it, but easily reinstall.
3. A clock/radio.
4. An old lamp.
5. A cup holding pencils and pens.

. . . I'm hoping to get for Christmas (assuming I haven't been too naughty)
1. The new Dylan album.
2. A World Almanac 2007 or two.
3. Leonard Maltin Movie Guide.
4. The Complete New Yorker
5. The Beatles Box Set 2. Also, Box Set 1.
***
This post on 8/7/06 at 5:43 p.m. What is the significance? You'll have to ask Julie Hembeck.

Geezer

Lee Harvey Blotto called me a geezer.
I should be deeply insulted, but I'm not.

Actually, he didn't exactly call ME specifically a geezer. But in his weekly Metroland column Rapp on This, in his guise as mild-mannered intellectual property attorney Paul Rapp - which you should read every week if you care about music and the changing technology, Paul wrote:
You don't need 75 minutes of music from every artist you take a fancy to. You probably don't need more than a song or two. And you certainly don't need the idiotic "jewel case" or a shiny plastic disc or a glossy little book you'll maybe look at once, if you can get it out of the idiotic jewel case without trashing it. All you need is a digital file, that you can put on a hard drive somewhere, stick on a gizmo that you can put in your pocket, and maybe burn onto a CD with 15 or 20 of your other favorite songs by different artists.

If this all sounds foreign or scary to you, it's time to wake up. This has been the future for a long time.

But, gee, I LIKE that little book, and I look at it almost every time. Who wrote that song? Who are the backup vocalists, the producer, the guest musicians? Maybe it's just me, the librarian who has a NEED TO KNOW, and will regret the loss of that information.

My band, Blotto, had its first CD go out of print recently. We're selling nicely on iTunes and about 20 other (and lesser) online music sites. I seriously considered just not reprinting any more CDs - why deal with the expense, the hassle, the shipping, the shelf-space and the goddamned jewel-boxes? But I realized that, well, we're talking about a collection of 25-year-old music here, with prospective purchasers who - how can I say this delicately? - tend to trend to an older demographic? Many Blottophiles, I suspect, aren't yet completely hep to that crazy digital scene, daddy-o. So, it's probably a good idea for us keep the CDs available, at least for now, and we will.

But if we had a geezer-free fan base, I don't think we'd bother. Kids don't care about CDs anymore. Why should they?

Having had to TRACK down the Blotto CD only a couple years ago (I had all the music except for the live and karaoke versions of "I Wanna Be a Lifeguard" on vinyl already), I appreciate his point. The tunes will be available, but will one know the names of the members of the band? Or does that no longer matter? It's not my geezerosity that's kicking in, it's my librarianship.

I taped the 6-7 a.m. hour of MTV's first day, hoping to see Paul, who I run into occassionally, and his fellow Blottos in "Lifeguard", but alas, it was not on. I DID see THREE performances from The Concert from Kampuchea, Sister Disco by the Who, Paul McCartney's Rockestra doing Lucille, and Little Sister as performed by Rockpile with Robert Plant on vocals. I have the album on vinyl; makes me want to go listen to it again. VH-1 mislabeled Queen's animated Calling All Girls as You Better You Bet by the Who, but a couple songs later, I saw the actual Who cut. The real find for me was Tomorrow Night by Shoes, a song I had all but forgotten, but really liked; a second Shoes song, Cruel You, was less engaging. I love the song Fashion by David Bowie, but the video seemed, dare I say it, pretentious; or maybe, it was just so 1980. My favorite cut was Stevie Nicks, not always my favorite performer, but her Stop Draggin' My Heart Around with Petty, done simply, worked for me. I watched MTV early on, but none of these cuts were, "OH, Yeah, I remember that," like those Robert Palmer videos with the bored models; instead we get the more moody John and Mary.

TWO B O R I N G QUESTIONS

You may have seen this article in USA Today, which I never buy, but which I will always read when it's left around in a bus or a restaurant or available free in a hotel. A mother is "bored" with her kids. Shocking! Thus far, I haven't found Lydia boring; frustrating occasionally, but never boring.

There was also a recent story in the local paper about 101 things for kids to do when they're bored.

Which got me to thinking:
1) When are you bored? AND
2) What do you do about it?

Truth is, I'm almost never bored when I am in control of my own time.

When am I bored?
*At some meetings I'm not running. (If I were to be bored at a meeting I WAS running, I wouldn't be running a very effective one.)
*When I'm doing some mundane task, usually asked by someone else. I may be the world's worst collater, you know, take one sheet each from a half dozen piles and staple them together. I quickly lose interest and one or more piles always comes out short. I'm easily distracted.
*When I'm doing a task I hate. This includes hour three of working on our taxes. Given the fact that I never GOT to hour three (or four or six or eight) when I was single and filing a 1040A (simple form) and was done in about 45 minutes leaves my wife with the heavy lifting on most of the Schedules, while I concentrate on the main form, and to do whatever calculations she requests.

What do I do about it? Music, of course, something that relies on the bass line, preferably.

What do YOU do?

String-breaker

The Beatles were a dominant force in the American pop charts in early 1964 like no other artists before or since. Starting on February 1, I Want to Hold Your Hand was #1 for seven weeks. It was replaced at the top of the charts by She Loves You, with Hand moving down to #2 and Please Please Me at #3. Then, the extraordinary week of April 4, when the Beatles had the top five songs on the charts: Can't Buy Me Love (#1 for five weeks), Twist and Shout, She Loves You, Hand, and Please Please Me. The week before, the group had 10 singles on the Top 100, and on April 11, 14 positions on the charts were by the Beatles.

So when this string of 14 weeks at number one ended on May 9, who WAS #1?
Was it Bobby Vinton or Roy Orbison, American artists popular in the pre-Beatles era? No, though Vinton's There! I've said It Again was #1 for the four weeks prior to the Beatles' ascension. And The Beatles had toured with Orbison.
How about another British Invasion group, such as Peter and Gordon, the Animals, or Manfred Mann? No, though P&G did chart later in the year with a Lennon-McCartney tune, World Without Love.
Perhaps a Motown artist, such as the Supremes or Mary Wells, or a "girl group" such as the Shangra-las or the Dixie Cups or a resurgent American band such as the Beach Boys or the Four Tops? All of those groups had a #1 hit in 1964, as did Dean Martin and Lorne Greene(?!)

But the artist who first displaced the Beatles was a 63-year old trumpeter who hadn't had a Top 10 hit in eight years, a guy who was named "satchel-mouth" as a kid, and who started recording in 1923. Of course, I'm talking about Louis Armstrong, and his hit rendition of Hello, Dolly! For years, he said his birthday was July 4, 1900, but later research suggested that his birth was actually on August 4, 1901, which would have made him 105 today had he not died back in 1971.

One of the things I discovered listening to children's music in the last couple years is how his hit song What a Wonderful World steals from Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star/the Alphabet Song. Play What A Wonderful World and sing the Alphabet Song at the same time, and I believe you'll hear what I mean.

Stuff Other People Sent Me

It's so hot that they cancelled the horse racing yesterday: "Due to severe heat and humidity that has plagued the entire East coast, Saratoga Race Course has canceled its nine-race program today. In a morning meeting with trainers, jockeys, the track veterinarian, stewards, track superintendent and senior management, a unanimous decision was reached to call off the races." If you're from around here, you know what a BFD that is.

97 on Tuesday, down to 96 yesterday, but humid. And the room I type in is the warmest room in the house.

It's so warm that I'm compelled to provide this link about an even hotter place, a piece I kinda, sorta midwived, as it were.

I suppose I could review the new Johnny Cash album, but I think Nik just about covered it, except for one thing: the second track, God's Gonna Cut You Down, is a remake of Run On from Moby's Play album, which in turn is a remix of Run On For A Long Time by Bill Landford and The Landfordaires. I now have three versions of this song, the latter from this album, all quite listenable in different ways.

Oh, are you getting what the Wall Street Journal calls "empty spam", i.e., e-mail with text from literary works? Most recently, I got parts of Ultima Thule, by Henry Handel Richardson (chapter 5).
***
HOW STRANGE IS RICK SANTORUM? (from Brian)
***
The COST OF WAR here and here. (From Dan).
***
Carbohydrate Addicts' Official Frequently Asked Questions and Answerson Artificial Sweeteners and Non-Sugar Substitutes (Don't remember offhand.)
***
My friend Sarah sent a list of bumper stickers, some of which I've included:

Blind Faith in Bad Leadership Is Not Patriotism

Religious Fundamentalism - A Threat Abroad, A Treat At Home

Feel Safer Now?

Stop Mad Cowboy Disease

Honor Our Troops; Demand The Truth

Fact: Bush Oil
1999 - $19 / barrel
2006 - $70 / barrel
***
My friends Paul & Mary Liz Stewart sent me a couple items of interest to me. They are among the experts on the Underground Railroad, especially in New York:

As outlined in this news release, a number of African American remains dating from the Colonial period were uncovered in Colonie in a previously unidentified burial ground last year. There were 13 sets of remains. News reports mistakenly identified the remains as having a connection to the French and Indian War. Subsequent investigation yielded that the remains were African Americans from the Colonial or post-colonial period. Examining the remains will yield information about how African Americans lived, and worked in this period. It will also be a chance to examine remains from first and second generation African people in America. At the meeting identified below you will hear about the discovery, the archaeology that took place, some of the bioarchaeology that tells us about the lives of those discovered, and input will be solicited regarding plans for the re-interment of the remains and marking of this burial site. I hope you can attend this important and historic meeting.

Call for Proposals for Workshop and Panel Presentations
Sixth Annual Underground Railroad Conference
"Discovering the Underground Railroad: Uncovering the Voices of Women"
February 23-25, 2007, College of St, Rose, Albany, NY

Navel-gazing

The front page of this past Monday's local paper said that the weather here will be as miserably hot and humid as it has been in the rest of the country yesterday and today; it was right. You want great insights? Not here today. Instead, I'll play that blogger game, "How did people arrive at my site?"

Of the past 100 hits, three of them came from Lefty Brown , two from Chris Black and one each from Fred Hembeck, Scott at Scooter Chronicles and GayProf at Center of Gravitas . Also The Remembering Site has a link that says: "We are pleased to thank the following groups for their help in publicizing The Remembering Site".

I'm not sure which Lynn Moss the searcher was looking for, but they found Fred Hembeck's wife.

New Baseball Hall of Famer Effa Manley drew some traffic to
this post this link. Search terms were: Effa Manley sexual (mine was the first hit, as was "effa manley" abe sexual). I also got a hit with "Bertha Ford Brooks", who was Effa's mother.

The search "richard powell"albany ny got me this post about family history, probably picking up my father-in-law.

I got two hits for "Bianca de la Garza"; she is the FOX 25 reporter in Boston, and who has some "hot media babe" fans. She interviewed me just before I was on JEOPARDY! That same post was accessed when someone typed in Glenn Kagan, who works on the show.

You can probably guess which recent post came from this search: linda Ronstadt Ann Savoy Adieu False Heart.

Typing in lyrics of dumb and dumber songs- boomshakalaka got one this.

My recent "Al Gore movie" review was accessed when someone typed
radio show about moving or relocating to tennessee

But by far, the post that CONTINUES to generate the most traffic are two:
this one about nearly 3000 Rogers in show business:
Roger Lee Lefkon and roger verbor got those individuals
RUMRILL IVY BALLS got Roger Rumrill, Poison Ivy
roger stein neville brothers got Roger Stein, Roger Neville
baron lieven gevaert got Roger Baron
love is all got roger glover
"The Perpetual Twilight of Gregor Black" got the movie's editor, Roger Buck
and there were a lot more

The other hot link was the GRAPHIC of a cell phone on this post, and I don't know why.

Oh, I found this new search engine KartOO, which is "a metasearch engine with visual display interfaces. When you click on OK, KartOO launches the query to a set of search engines, gathers the results, compiles them and represents them in a series of interactive maps through a proprietary algorithm." I have no idea what that means, but I'm in there.

The funniest thing I discovered, search engine-wise, is that if one types in roger in www.msn.com, this site's is in the top 10. Most curious.

Roger Green's Summer Mix 2006

Here's the CD I put together for Kelly' Brown's music exchange. Naturally, I wouldn't bother describing it to you if you couldn't get it too. This time, though, there's a slight hitch...

Summer Fun-the Barracudas. When I worked at FantaCo, there was a mail order customer in 1987 and 1988 who worked for Rykodisc and would occasionally send me a free disc "in appreciation for all the great mail order service" I provided for him. They were mostly samplers, though I also got King Sunny Ade. Another album I got was Drop Out with Barracudas on ESD Records, which either Ryko was distributing, or he got it in exchange. Cut 8 starts off as a car commercial then leads into this infectious pop tune.
Summertime Blues-Eddie Cochran. Could have picked the Who version, but was seeking something lighter.
Dancing in the Streets-Martha & the Vandellas. I considered Heat Wave, but thought it was too obvious. Besides, these first three tunes are in the same key!
Summer Days-Bob Dylan. I've recently noted my joy at listening to "Love and Theft" a week after 9/11.
Summer Breeze-the Isley Brothers. I have the Seals & Crofts version, but I picked this version from a Rhino disc, "Black on White: Great R&B Covers of Rock Classics".
Independence Day-David Byrne. Now we come to the south of the border segment of the disc. From the "Rei Mommo" album, a cumbia.
Master Blaster (Jammin')-Stevie Wonder. One of those album where a song is functionally the title song, because the lyrics appear in it, in this case, "hotter than July".
Montego Bay-Amazulu. I had this friend named Donna who was dying, and she knew her brain would not be functional in a very short while. So she made a list of people who would divvy up her music, her books, her artwork and her other stuff. I was one of the two people who was in charge of the music. One of the albums I kept for myself was "Sun Splashin': 16 Hot Summer Hits", from which this song and the next two came.
Coconut-Nilsson. I considered the version by Fred from the B-52's, but the original suited my mood better.
Hot Fun in the Summertime-Sly & the Family Stone. This is 20 seconds longer than the original. OOH, Lawd!
Too Darn Hot-Erasure. Now we come to the great composers section. From the original "Red, Hot, and Blue" album, music of Cole Porter.
Summertime-Billy Stewart. From "Red, Hot and Gershwin", one of FOUR versions of this song on the album. This rendition I remember from my youth, mostly for the tongue-rolling. It went to #10 on the Billboard charts in 1966. One of my former officemates HATED this song.
Surf Rider-the Lively Ones. Needed some surf music. From "Pulp Fiction".
Summer of Love-B-52's. Goes well with the previous cut.
It's Summer-Temptations. There was a different, and I think better version of this song on the "Psychedelic Shack" album. This version from the Emperors of Soul box set; I'm guessing it's originally from the later "Solid Rock" album.
Summerfling-k.d. lang. Pop tune appropriately from the "Invincible Summer" album.
Surf's Up-the Beach Boys. Of course, I had to end with the Beach Boys, but I thought this would not fit the conventional mode. Beside which, I LOVE the vocals at the end.

Problem is that I've been having difficulty making copies. I went to friend Bill's house and made a half dozen copies. I sent one to Lefty and Kelly, and another to Eddie, but it most of the extra copies, including one for myself, has noise in the background of the latter tracks. I haven't figured out how to use the burner software on my own computer. So, I WILL get you a copy if you want - e-mail me at my NEW address, Roger.Green@nyssbdc.org, but it may take a while.

Monday Meme 7/31

But first, this article from Greg Haymes, who, as Sergeant Blotto, helped inaugurate the first episode of MTV with its "I Wanna Be a Lifeguard" video. I seem to recall that at least parts of the Capital District was NOT getting their MTV in the beginning because it was too scandalous, but I can't find a reference to it. Can anyone from around Albany remember if MTV was being broadcast from the start? Is it true that original VJ Martha Quinn was born in Albany? And is there a correlation between Blotto's appearance and Quinn? As the saying goes, this inquiring mind wants to know. But isn't it ironic that the rebroadcast of those "rowdy" MTV videos tomorrow will not be on MTV but on VH-1 Classics?
***
Stolen, as is usually the case, from Lefty

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Well, I AM brilliant. (I jest! I jest!) But I do relate to the conflicted nature, as described. And since I was at the page:

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Oh, my. I saw this movie. Once. Once was enough. I think I talked about it afterwards with the two people I saw it with for longer than the movie ran, and it's not a short film. I suppose there is a little of the rescuer in me.
***
Lefty takes the advice of his musical gurus, including me.

Movies I have not seen

Tom the Dog has a post called Movies Everybody's Seen But Me. He, and his many fans, listed their various picks. But I'm a librarian. I need a SYSTEM. So I went to the Wikipedia and found the list of highest-grossing films, unadjusted for inflation.
1 Titanic
$1,845,034,188-YES
2 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
$1,118,888,979 NO. Never read the book, either.
3 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the US)
$976,475,550 YES, with my niece, even though I've never read any of the books.
4 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
$926,287,400 NO
5 Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
$924,317,558 YES, unfortunately.
6 Shrek 2
$920,665,658 YES
7 Jurassic Park
$914,691,118 YES
8 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
$892,213,036 NO
9 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
$876,688,482 NO
10 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
$871,368,364 YES
11 Finding Nemo
$864,625,978 YES
12 Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
$849,997,605 NO
13 Spider-Man
$821,708,551 YES
14 Independence Day
$816,969,268 NO, and I'm pretty sure it was intentional at the time.
15 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
$792,910,554 YES
16 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
$789,804,554 NO
17 The Lion King
$783,841,776 YES
18 Spider-Man 2
$783,766,341 NO, but I really want to.
19 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
$775,398,007 YES
20 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
$744,106,957 NO, but my wife did.
21 The Da Vinci Code
$740,961,259 NO
22 The Matrix Reloaded
$738,599,701 NO
23 Forrest Gump
$677,386,686 YES
24 The Sixth Sense
$672,806,292 YES
25 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
$653,913,918 YES
26 Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
$649,398,328 NO
27 Ice Age: The Meltdown
$644,028,218 NO
28 The Incredibles
$631,436,092 YES
29 The Lost World: Jurassic Park
$618,638,999 NO
30 The Passion of the Christ
$611,899,420 NO, intentionally so.
31 War of the Worlds
$591,416,316 NO
32 Men in Black
$589,390,539 YES
33 Armageddon
$553,709,788 NO
34 King Kong
$549,216,896 NO
35 Mission: Impossible II
$545,902,562 NO
36 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
$544,521,411
37 The Day After Tomorrow
$542,771,772 YES
38 Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
$538,375,067 YES
39 Madagascar
$528,367,986 NO
40 Monsters, Inc.
$525,366,597 NO
41 Terminator 2: Judgment Day
$519,843,345 I don't remember. I saw SOME T movie.
42 Meet the Fockers
$516,533,043 NO
43 Ghost
$505,702,588 YES
44 Aladdin
$504,050,219 YES
45 Troy
$497,409,852 NO
46 Twister
$494,471,524 YES
47 Toy Story 2
$485,015,179 YES
48 Bruce Almighty
$484,572,835 YES
49 Shrek
$484,409,218 YES
50 Saving Private Ryan
$481,840,909 NO

And then, since thsat list tended to skew towards the newer films with higher ticket prices, I also picked the list of highest-grossing films, adjusted for inflation, with the caveat: "Inevitably, a single inflation-adjustment cannot account for global inflationary fluctuations, and it also favors re-released films. Further, it treats all receipts as if they were earned in the initial year of release, which is clearly incorrect.
However, it does provide a more accurate (if estimated) long-term picture of financial success as it ignores current inflationary trends. Every decade since the 1930s is represented, with the exception of the 1950s."
(If I described the films in the first list, I won't in the second.)
1 Gone With the Wind (1939)
$2,699,710,936 NO. Keep thinking I ought to.
2 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
$2,425,862,786 YES
3 Titanic (1997)
$2,174,317,554
4 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
$1,436,811,009
5 Jurassic Park (1993)
$1,202,648,438
6 Bambi (1942)
$1,191,311,757 YES
7 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
$1,175,528,250
8 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in US) (2001)
$1,058,997,333
9 Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
$1,054,205,059
10 The Lion King (1994)
$1,000,588,279
11 Independence Day (1996)
$991,657,039
12 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
$985,287,400
13 The Sound of Music (1965)
$978,767,575 Not all the way through, NO.
14 Planet of the Apes (1968)
$977,132,692 YES. In fact, I saw all FIVE Apes films. On the same day. Don't try that at home.
15 One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
$966,612,040 YES, and the lead guy in the film is named Roger.
16 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
$945,007,557
17 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
$935,804,406
18 Jaws (1975)
$912,899,628 NO. Initially, it was fear. Now, it's just inertia.
19 Finding Nemo (2003)
$908,394,209
20 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
$891,719,985
21 Spider-Man (2002)
$877,117,127
22 The Exorcist (1973)
$870,322,714 YES
23 Forrest Gump (1994)
$864,696,421
24 E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
$851,419,200
25 Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
$848,480,246
26 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
$811,115,427
27 Spider-Man 2 (2004)
$805,131,538
28 The Jungle Book (1967)
$802,223,303 NO
29 The Sixth Sense (1999)
$767,350,777
30 The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
$775,988,356
31 Ghost (1990)
$752,150,867
32 The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
$729,047,539
33 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
$704,795,008
34 Men In Black (1997)
$694,579,105
35 Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
$693,187,865
36 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
$687,015,694
37 The Sting (1973)
$679,018,919 YES
38 Doctor Zhivago (1965)
$669,977,327 YES
39 The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
$665,181,894
40 The Incredibles (2004)
$648,484,866

Other movies mentioned in Tom's column:
Buffy the Vampiire Slayer-NO
Poseidon Adventure-YES, but not the recent remake
Clerks-NO, but I will, I will
It's a Wonderful Life-YES, but not until I met my wife
Goodfellas-NO, not all the way through.
Casablanca-YES
Citizen Kane-Rented it, fell asleep. NO. I'll try again.
The Wizard of Oz-YES, many times.
Godfather-Yes, but not 2 or 3
Unforgiven-YES
Million Dollar Baby-NO, but it's high on my list.
Apocalypse Now-NO, not all the way through, though I must have seen at least 2/3 of it.
The Conversation-currently on my DVR, recorded from TCM, as are Raging Bull and Nashville because I never saw any of them, but I will this summer.
Pretty in Pink-NO.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind-YES, both versions.
Monty Python movies- only Life of Brian, and whatever was after that.
Woody Allen movies -MANY of them
Rocky- Yes, also 2 and 4.
Adam Sandler movies- just the good one.
Oh, that's enough of this.

THREE (plus) QUESTIONS: Heat Wave

As I've mentioned, I saw An Inconvenient Truth recently. I was already convinced about global warming.

1) Do you think there is global warming, and if so, is it reversable? What will it take? I think it'll take political and personal will that I don't see forthcoming. I'm particularly interested in Chris Black's opinion.

2) What was the worst weather you've had this summer? For us, it's been the near-constant rain.

3) Do you think Al Gore is running for President? (I don't think so.) And why does he look so strange on the cover of last week's Entertainment Weekly?
***
Several people have told me about the alleged dis of JEOPARDY! by one Ken Jennings in his July 19 blog post. I didn't think it was a dis, I thought he was trying to be funny. He didn't always succeed - faux cannibalism as humor? - but he tried.
In fact, the self-described iconoclast, who earned about 145 times what I earned on JEOPARDY!, had a rather revealing post in which he declares:

1970’s Sunflower is a better Beach Boys’ album than Pet Sounds. (Well, no, it isn't, but it's better than it was given credit for at the time.)
Celia Weston’s Jolene was a better Alice waitress than Polly Holliday’s Flo. (Flo WAS a bit over the top.)
I Vitelloni is a better Fellini movie than 8 1/2 or La Dolce Vita. (Never saw I Vitelloni.)
Oh Mercy is a better Dylan comeback than Time Out of Mind. (Maybe.)
John Stanley’s Little Lulu is a better run of classic kids’ comics than Carl Barks’ Uncle Scrooge. (I'll have to ask Mr. Hembeck about this.)
Smashing Pumpkins’ cover of "Landslide" is better than the Fleetwood Mac original. (I've only heard the SP version a couple times.)
Marnie is a better late Hitchcock movie than Psycho. (Never saw Marnie.)
Timothy Dalton was a better Bond than anybody else since Connery. (Never saw Dalton as Bond.)
Felicity’s hair was better short. (Nah.)
You folks have any opinion on these?

"That Capitalist Rag"

At work, I scan the Wall Street Journal every day: the front page, and the second and fourth sections, Marketplace and Personal Journal (or some such - it changes during the week). But I'm usually reluctant when I go to the op-ed pages, where I, more often than not, find some apologist for the current administration. My co-worker and friend Mike, who semi-retired in the past month or so, would pass the paper along to me, with some cutting comment, such as "Here's that crypto-fascist rag!" Occasionally, though, I find something actually useful. Here's an example of each.

In Monday's edition, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, announced that Muthannā is the "first province to assume complete responsibility for its law enforcement and security, independent of multinational forces." That's great. Really, it is, although it had been under the authority of non-U.S. troops. But look at the map of Iraq. As the Wikipedia says, "Iraq is divided into 18 governorates or provinces (muhafazah)", which are:
Baghdād (بغداد)
Salāh ad-Dīn (صلاح الدين)
Diyālā (ديالى)
Wāsit (واسط)
Maysān (ميسان)
Al-Basrah (البصرة)
Dhī Qār (ذي قار)
Al-Muthannā (المثنى)
Al-Qādisiyyah (القادسية)
Bābil (بابل)
Al-Karbalā' (كربلاء)
An-Najaf (النجف)
Al-Anbar (الأنبار)
Nīnawā (نينوى)
Dahūk (دهوك)
Arbīl (أربيل)
Kirkuk (التاميم)
As-Sulaymāniyyah (السليمانية)
All during the war, I've been reading about how X, (X being something positive) has happened in 8 or 12 or 14 of 18 provinces. Almost invariably, however, those 4 "other" provinces include Anbar, that large western province (#13), where the U.S. is moving troops from, it was announced this week, and Baghdād (#1), which has over 1/5 of the country's population, and where additional U.S. forces are moving to. I'm afraid I'm not convinced that success in one relatively stable southern province will mean peace is just around the corner. Of course, this guy would likely disagree; naturally, I read about him in the WSJ this week.

The other piece was by Suze Orman in last weekend's edition, about identity theft. There is pending legislation called the Financial Data Protection Act of 2006, H.R.3997. I'm always impressed how Congress comes up with such comforting names of legislation - USA PATIOT Act, anyone? Her point is about Section 6 of the bill:
(a) Preemption of State Information Security Laws- This Act supersedes any provision of a statute, regulation, or rule of a State or political subdivision of a State, with respect to those entities covered by the regulations issued pursuant to this Act, that expressly--
(1) requires information security practices and treatment of data in electronic form containing personal information similar to any of those required under section 2; and
(2) requires notification to individuals of a breach of security resulting in unauthorized acquisition of data in electronic form containing personal information.

Orman, talking about this preemption, notes that there are already strong laws in CA, FL, IL, NJ, NY, and UT, which means 130 million out of 300 million Americans. State reforms enable you to to activate a credit freeze, but this is a hassle to the business community. As for the federal law: "Only victims who produce a police report after their personal information is stolen would be able to put a credit freeze on their accounts. This approach is the equivalent of only selling locks to people who have already been burglarized." This sounds "bug my Congressman"-worthy.
***
My friend Sarah e-mailed this piece about stolen elections. Generally, I'm not thrilled with unsigned pieces, but I trust her, and what it says is consistent with I've read before.

FILM OBSERVATION: An Inconvenient Truth

Our date on Sunday was to see "the Al Gore film". Yet, I was surprised how truly personal the story was.

You can read reviews in lots of places. Here are my reactions:

1) I left the theater angry, not about global warming - I was already ticked about that - but how I wished that Al Gore were more personable six years ago, rather than sounding like a policy wonk, talking about the Social Security "lockbox". Maybe he would have won Tennessee, his home state, and what happened in Florida would have been irrelevant.

2) The film merely confirmed what I had been thinking for years: that the government's low standards on highway mileage, which included setting standards then letting Detroit postpone them as "too expensive", is why Ford and GM are in such trouble today.

3) I wish I could better explain to someone why the excessive rain in the Northeast earlier this month, and 118 in Phoenix earlier this week are caused by the same phenomenon.

4) Someone hissed when W briefly appeared on the screen. It wasn't by me, but it could have been.

5) Carol and I had already agreed that we need better insulation for our house.

6) Mass transit is a solution, but how do we do that amidst urban sprawl? The issue of that aspect of development, not touched on in the film if I recall correctly, is a huge problem.

7) I feel sorry for Jimmy Carter, and for Al Gore too. When Carter was President, declared a Moral Equivalent of War (MEOW) on the energy crisis, and wore a sweater in the White House, it just wasn't the message people wanted to hear at that point. Gore has had this same message for three decades before just recently started getting any real traction.

8) Not directly from the film: I had long thought that it would take $3/gallon gasoline before consumption in the U.S. would really change, I mean lower usage for a sustained period. What IS the price point, $4/gallon?

9) Go to the website here.

10) Go see the film. Tell other people to go see the film.