Wednesday, May 31, 2006
SPUN QUESTION Unless you have been ignoring the seemingly senseless mass of incoming e-mail for a month or so, you have most likely received letters asking you, point-blank, if "you believe in the war in Iraq?" That's a loaded question inviting negative replies. When I come across appeals to ignorance such limited-askings such as these campaigning letters, I find I, quite naturally, re-act in pretty much the same manner as did my maternal grandfather when anyone ask him for whom he had voted. The basic intent of his reply was: "None of your damned business!" Granddaddy had worked during as a lumberjack in Michigan. He was not a stranger, by any means, to some of the rougher types of dealing with disturbances. He, the son of immigrant parents, had some rather firm ideas about the personal nature surrounding his political beliefs and, especially, the manner which he might best cast his valued ballot. I feel certain sense of allegience to my nation, respect for our chosen leaders of whatever party - properly pledged as befits the office held.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
MEMORIAL DAYIt has been Memorial Day most of this week for me! I keep wondering how it can be that in this great nation of ours we cannot bring ourselves to recognize and observe a set date for anything. We change our holidays as frequently as we do our socks or underwear. “Memorial Day” has always been the last day of the month of May, I think. No more. It is among those dates of consequence which have been writ-switched by Congressional date-setters to take place on the Monday nearest to the original date. In a quasi-technical sense, it rally doesn’t make that much difference anyway, because our calendar system has been pretty well botched-up for decades in end. The chief changers in many such cases seems to be government employees in the District of Columbia who are intent on making it mandatory that all holidays occur on Monday making the Long Week End observance they have long favored, a nationwide custom. Each time the holiday shifts about irreparable damage is done to the meaning of the holiday when it was set up as a symbol urge us to revere and respect that date in memory of an outstanding individual or event. When the holiday is fragmented so is the honor being paid to the reason for it’s being. When my favorite auto race came on the air from Indy, I knew was from Indy came TV t, I knew it had to be Memorial Day, but it wasn’t . I found out it was not. It was tomorrow. The “Memorial Day” races I saw being run in Indianapolis, Indiana, Monte Carlo and Charlotte, North Carolina were running just the same,which could not be, so I left them all and did other things. It somehow, does not seem right that a faction in D.C. should determine how the rest of us observe our holidays. Existing Human Resources experts allow, even seem to encourage the Long Weekend perk, something which the general nationwide run of commerce, business, and industry does not accept. It can be seen happening out of D.C. I live on the arterial routes of southbound motor traffic U.S.#11, I-81 and, not too far to the east, I-95. When a Monday holiday is in the offing, you can easily see increased numbers of D.C. and northern Virginia cars heading southward. By night fall it becomes a steady flow. It is all but absent until, Monday afternoon, the current is reversed and traffic gradually becomes heavier - toward the north. I am always reminded,too, that I see only one fourth of the action. Trips of a like nature are moving into and out of Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and points beyond. I have no way of checking traffic at Dulles, Reagan National, and small, private airports, but I'll bet the pattern of "ups" and "Downs" works out pretty much the same way. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 5-30-06 [c501wds]
Monday, May 29, 2006
FILL 'ER UP! Do you remember when you used to say those commanding words to a young man who, in those bygone days, was known as a filling station attendant? He would snap out a friendly "Yes sir!" and start a hose mechanism which measured gasoline into the fuel tank of your car. He would, if asked to do so, wipe your car's windshield with a half-clean cloth he kept dangling from the rear pocket his coveralls. As service station equipment modernized the hose itself metered the gasoline and cut off the flow of fuel. That was a point at which we should have noticed a distinct change in the occupational category. The attendant, when smart-hoses started taking over, was an endangered species we did not list at the time. It was not uncommon for college boys to work their way through school by pulling shifts either nights or over week ends and holidays "pumpin' gas" at a big filling stations downtown or at one of the exchange points along the Intestate, super highways, freeways or Toll roads.It was a regular job classification term used just as "soda jerk" was for many of their buddies who worked at places where refreshments or old-fashioned drug store "fountains" were maintained. The job called "pumpin' gas" was given a final, fatal kick into oblivion wit the coming of the cards. The Credit card put the payment off for a time at a premium and the other card paid for the purchase right now, pronto... even as the expensive fluid is being transferred from safe storage to your car's thirsty fuel tank. Listen! You can hear it's gurgle! It's so quiet. There are are no people around. There is no near to hear you say: "Fill 'er up!" Gassing up the family car is now one of the loneliest of all locales! Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 5-29-06 [c327wds]
Sunday, May 28, 2006
CANE CARRIERS Comedy star W .C. Fields , was beyond all question, the most exceptional talent of all time in the varied uses of a cane. He strolled forth with staid dignity on the finer avenues with stylish folk in his company. He also used the cane - or "walking sick" as it was sometimes called in his day, as a valued aid to make his type of comedy seem authentic. His walk could appear to be a smart swagger if he wished it to be so, or it could be a bumbling mis-adventurer if he chose to be seen in that light. He used it as if it were an additional arm, leg or lever which he could manipulate to change the world about himself to his liking or the setting for his type of comedy. My career with a cane started when a young doctor asked me to simply walk down the corridor just outside his office. I did. He put a blindfold eye mask on me and asked me to repeat the walk. I did not. I guessed about which direction to go but after three steps or so I was still. He then suggested that I look up at the ceiling and try the same walk. No go. Back a his desk he talked about neural receptors and showed me how I was visually checking out every step I took. My receptors needed more information and I could provide such information. To help improve that situation I had a choice to make . I waited a moment, thinking all manner of fearful consequences, I suppose, and he popped the question "Which would you prefer - a "cane" or a "walker". I went with "cane" because "walkers" seemed to me to be for older people. I had a fine cane at home - a hand-made one - and it became part of me that very day. I have never regretted that moment in any way. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 5-28-06 [c336wds]
Saturday, May 27, 2006
"Mr.ED" – EDITEDI read recently that the way they got the TV horse “Mr. Ed” to move his lips to simulate “speaking” was by smearing peanut butter on his teeth. If I had done such a thing, the amalgamated “Don’t Mistreat Horses Society? Would have been on my neck in full assault for causing the steed unnecessary discomfort and possibly harmful neurological damage. The insult-riddled attack upon my poor judgment in doing such a dastardly deed against one of God’s creatures would be magnified out of all proportion and indicate clearly that I had performed a despicable crime of against the entire equine side of creation. In the making of films one must know never to let a horse get shot. In our Civil War the loss of horse flesh one must make sure never to let a horse get in the way of any type of ammunition in flight, too near any explosions or be on the receiving end of some sneaky sniper's "ping" from far away. You don't "kill" horses. Humans? Well,that's another matter. If, as a filmmaker, you wish to remove a horse from action you simply place a trip wire across and send him sprawling seven ways from nowhere in sand and brush when his rider gets a flaming arrow shaft in his gazebo. And, never let a downed horse lie here. Film him or her struggling and thrashing about but make it obvious that the horse regained a foothold on Earth, regained purpose and establishing a goal for improvement centered on finding a new, safer and better place in which to live. Its not unusual for men think animals might one day, speak to them in acceded language patterns I do believe there are moments in which us who has not felt a specific time when their dog was on the edge of saying something important. In a sense some do,at times, manage impart an idea an moments ahead of time make preparations to use the moments wisely. This deep-set awareness of that which is likely to happen; Call it "chance" if you must - but it seems to happen far to consistent to be accidental. We all know Mr. Ed is other than what is made to seem to be, yet we listen to his parroted words intently. Of course the whole premise is "moot" as our lawyer friends say when a thing is passee - dead and gone. "Mr. Ed" was fifty years ago. Things have changed...the little kid who went fishing with Andy Griffith every time that old show started, is now the producer of mod films most of us don't care for at all. Words straight from the horse's mouth would seem to be a bit dated,too, I'd say. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net May 27, 2006[c477wds]
Friday, May 26, 2006
MISSING - ONE DAY I know people who happened to have been born on February 29th and I don't know why I have always expected them to be different from the rest of us. They are not ,of course, even the least, little bit, unless it be that they are rather hardened to hearing jokes about their extended childhood. By definition the term means any year which can be evenly divided by four. In actual application that doesn't quite work out. The non-official formula now on wide use replaces the "four" with "four hundred". I find there seems to be no central theme which might tell me which persons were born Leap Year , and try as I might, I can think of only one person I know, personally, who has a February 29th birthday. I thought I could recall the names of others who did so. Nothing. You can find them in all manner of occupational or social divisions. U.S. band leader and trombonist was Leap Year born in 1904 and the Italian race car driver Mario Andretti is another in the year we called 1940. Certainly those selected at random are occupationally far removed from another year leaper born February 29th, 1732 - Ann Lee. She was the lady who founded the American Society of Shakers. Others on the list include John Holland (1792) the American inventor of the submarine; Gioacchino Rossini, the Italian operatic composer and American writer named Tim Powers whom you may not know. I saved Tim Powers to last on the list because, of all of those named, strikes me as bring more of what a real 29ers. His writing is somewhat specialized and usually read only by dedicated science-fiction and other-world fans. Tim Powers has been praised as being the current literary world's Edgar Allen Poe. He is that and more and his dozen or so novels and numberless short stories glisten with glamorous, spirited and meaningful monsters; often diabolic, half-human and half otherwise involved in embryonic situations from which, one might suppose, chaos and void concepts might well have been fashioned. There are others, of course, who belong on such a list of men and women born on Feb. 29th. Try examining the life patterns of other people such as Pope Paul - 1468, Pepper Martin - 1904, Dinah Shore - 1916, Tempest Storm - 1928, or rapper star 'Ja Rule' born in 1976. Then, if you really want to get involved - explain what might or could occur with those who died on February 29th. Is Ludwig of Bavaria who died February 29 , 1868 dying in an intermittent series of four years at a time? Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net May 26, 2006 [c454wds]
Thursday, May 25, 2006
LOST SOULS We have been hearing a great deal lately about lost or stolen identity. Just this past week we were told of the theft of a million of restricted records of our servicemen and women. It appears an unidentified government employee took some restricted discs or papers home for some undiscussed reason and while they were out of the "Secret" drawer, stole them. No one has said when all that took place,but we first heard of it this past week, and some people are upset. Our alert media is doing a fine job of informing the thieves about the treasure which they have in their possession as well as suggesting ways to best turn their holdings to their financial advantage. The original thief involved has " been placed on administrative leave" which must be extra vacation days with pay" for being naughty. We have quite a history along such lines. In August 1814 when the British were occupying Washington , D.C. and fine-tuning the military art of Selective Arson, they chose to destroy the original manuscripts for the First and Second United States Census Returns for Virginia. The were for the period from 1790 to 1800. That meant we lost the schedules which named the heads of households and contained the number of inhabitants in each household. All that loss meant such basic statistics had to be founded on published abstracts containing the number of inhabitants of each county, some of which survived. In 1908 the Bureau of the Census published a twelve-volume set of books listing just the "Heads of Families - Virginia " which was welcomed and used widely by people who set out to re-establish old or distinguished Colonial family. The current plague of identity theft is associated to some extent on the great improvements made in our communications systems. The advances in the computer field have revolutionized our entire way of living far more than we realizes and opened entirely new aspects of knowledge and new ways to use it. Still growing...still innovating new concepts the Internet is a fertile field being worked by identity thieves. The widespread of colorful flood of small plastic cards which have inundated just about every niche of our society. A major emphasis of our educational system - at all levels - has become: security. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net May 2006 [c402wds]
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
PART TIME SOLDIERS Many years will pass, I dare say, before we, as a nation, really come to appreciate how much the National Guard troops have meant to our nation. They, in recent times, been the chief means of national survival. Natural events, such as hurricane Katrina and the record-smashing flood conditions she caused along our southern border cities, towns and countrysides, caused a sudden realization that we may have overused our safeguard of reserve strength. That seems to have been the first time many citizens ever heard hat it was possible for us to overdraw on our use of such troops intended for use in dire circumstances. The National Guard was formed, and I think wisely so, to be a trained, equipped and modestly experienced in military realities. It was intended that it stand ready to supplement the Regular Armed Forces in time of stress. It was composed chiefly of volunteer soldiers for whatever reason some of which deserve to be questioned .When it was suggested that national guardsmen be sent into flood ravaged areas, many people were surprised – some astonished - when we were told we were already stretched about as thin as we dare to have them be in Afghanistan, Iraq and other places where we still maintain troops as a lingering aftermath of some action in which were engaged there years ago. It was only then when we were faced with such a choice, that many citizens realized how much we have have depended on this at-home, stand-by force to take the place of a Regular Army we have allowed to, more or less, lapse. It has proved to be far less troublesome politically to simply call out the reserves than to recruit warriors by means of a draft law. When we find ourselves ordering a part time soldier back to his third or fourth tour of combat duty in Iraq, we should begin to see how thinly we have spread our “extra” protective forces. It is as time for us to realize that such a gross miscarriage of justice and of common sense is wrong. The matter of starting a draft is political rather than a military problem No politician is going to even suggest that such a plan be out into effect because he knows that we, the voters, will, most certainly, cast him into total oblivion. Such reasoning indicates, quite clearly, on whom much of any blame for such conditions ultimately rests. I believe we are quoting Pogo of comical Swampland fame when we say: “we have met the enemy and he is us.” A National draft of our youth - with a sunset clause as a part of it – is essential to our future well-being. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net May 24, 2006 [c470wds]
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
HAS FEMA FALLEN? Has the Federal Emergency Mis-management Agency - well know as F.E.M.A or "Fema"' (which was said with a uneasy sneer in most voices) during the troubled days of hurricane Katrina and the resulting floods, been discontinued? Of course not. Federal government adjuncts never died; they don't fade away, either. They go on and on and will continue to do so, until we get a sensible "Sunset Law" in force which would automatically pull the financial plug which promptly make it a governmental memory - more of a nightmare, no doubt, for those persons who were the working crew in charge at the critical time. Government entities do not die, nor do they like General Douglas MacArthur's "old soldiers" just faded away. As long as nourishing sustenance remains at hand. FEMA has, wisely, been keeping a low profile and the word “trailer” is a dirty word among both staff and supporters. Now in this Merry month of May the official start of the new hurricane season set to begin. Has FEMA been doing some house-cleaning? Have some of the hazardous points which made past performances rather clumsy to say the least? Pretty soon soon, some element of the media will wake up and start asking who is in charge of what at FEMA. Have needed reforms modified their potential so they can have a ready answer for the media when they start checking on is the capabilities of the new stormy season? A usual action of such times of crisis for some of entities to change name and this may well be something that can be done. A bad taste has lingered with many people who would rather no hear the offensive tag. No doubt, FEMA did a great many needy people some good as it was started but it foundered badly in a time of crisis with administrative woes as yet undetermined, or a least, unpublished. There is some danger that we may, in any excessive remodeling, “throw the baby out with the water.” FEMA, properly managed did work, it appears. It can be seen as a sick bush which needs pruning rather than excavation. The worst path we could take is to simply let it all go as a bad dream. I haven't heard much about FEMA in recent months. Hurricane season is with us. What changes have been made? Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 5-23-06 [c407wds]
Monday, May 22, 2006
AWRIGHT! Okay! Fine! Now that the election is over and done with, we hope, let's get to work rebuilding this city! I hope a great many people in the New Orleans, area are thinking that way this morning...a full week ahead of the new hurricane-tornado-big blow- with blow with rain season. That makes it an especially good time to start the make-over. A new or re-treaded mayor has been chosen by a slim majority. That put some one in authority at the prime-point of pressure where someone with good intent in mind can push the right button, pull the proper levers, perhaps break a few heads if need be by lowering a few unused booms. It is also a good thing that Mayor Nagin was re-elected by a narrow margin. there is nothing better to add some zing and zip to doing of the projects undertaken than being aware that a critical eye is watching your every move. The mesmerizing media has assured us the two men have shaken hands and agreed to work together which you can take with the same droplet of saline solution you do when you see two pro-boxers shaking gloves in the middle of the boxing ring long enough for the referee to get out of the way. The new mayor of the City of New Orleans takes the job this time with a unique advantage. He knows, from personal experience, a few things he is not to do. This time he approaches the task with a new confidence we have not seen in him before. He seems to have the bearing of being "his own man" this time rather than acting out an assigned role as a tool of an ingrained political mechanism. Notice his very movement on camera today. He does not sit with sagging shoulders as in Katrina films; he now strides across the scene with the camera-pointers in transit. He smiles a great deal more, too and we find he has a good stock of poses which allow him to look as other wish to see him a boyish grin, for instance, that hits to the heart of mid-America. He also has a serious, oh-so-solemn side to show. He will fare well with the public, I feel, and if this second-time-around thing as Mayor is successful in reviving New Orleans, the state-wide political machine - like something designed and built by Rube Goldberg - may fall apart as the find he can be Governor - the prime person of the parish. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net May 22, 2006 [c445wds]
Sunday, May 21, 2006
THE PULSEWe don’t always agree on it’s qualities, but we are fortunate to live in an era when we have such free access to the many events taking place around the world. Now, as if that were too small an area, we get regular bulletins concerning things happening in space - the entire universe and beyond. It has not been that way too long either. The newness of it all still startles some people while others can – and do ignore it completely. Most of us would, I feel, be classified in a group called, perhaps, "keepers” - people who pay attention to news reports and make serious efforts to determine how they might relate to their lives. The main items were facts about success in setting up a reformed government in Iraq and extended coverage of the day's election of a new mayor for the City of New Orleans. I find that was not the important news at all. The news, as being talked about this morning, was that Brittany Spears had been photographed actively "mis-treating" her small son. She was leaving a building holding her infant child in one arm; a drinking glass in the other when she caught a toe in an edge of her gown; tumbled and an alert bodyguard at her side caught the baby before he hit the ground! This new incident was cause enough to bring forth old films of Brittany driving her kid around pinned down on the seat of her convertible in am "illegal" backwards position. This morning more people seem to remember the Brittany "paparazzi" item than the other two. I'm told the item also reported that Spears is pregnant again, I missed out on that bit of news. I find more and more viewers who edit the news they do watch in much the same manner retaining that which they think of as being good and avoiding all others. Do you edit the news programs you watch in pretty much the same manner? Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphi.net 5-21-06 [c352wds]
Saturday, May 20, 2006
IN YOUR VIEW We seem to be in a period during which we are hearing more-and-more criticism of current TV programing. The wireless worry warts seem to be everywhere! Seldom is there one complete day with some complaining about the loss of a favorite program, or the strange popularity of a specific show which, to them, has no merit whatsoever. Most of the time, the person making the charge has someone in mind whom the "blame" for the proper judgment about poor TV shows. It might be "the big TV production companies", "the Hollywood" or they blame "the big TV production companies", "them Hollywood movie makers..." and others for poor programming very much as we are blaming "them big oil company's" and others as being the cause of our paying the highest gasoline prices we have in decades. Seldom do we find that it can be we, ourselves be, at least a part, of the steady decline of American television in recent years and has been eating away at the bone and marrow of the industry for some time. It has, just recently experienced a hard kick in it's technology gut with marked advances in the "wireless" side of the communications world. Much of the TV scene is being shifted about. You may even have noticed the appearance of the letters "H" and "D" along "T" and "V" in the corner of your local station's ID frame and even painted on the sides of their service vehicles you see around your community. The letters tell you they have made required technical modifications necessary when we, as a nation, shift over to "high definition" television - exclusively. The technical change upcoming for everyone - viewers and broadcasters alike - will modify such industry areas as programing. The fate of channels, as we know then today in doubt. In fact the entire aspect of the phenomena we know TV to be is in a state of constant change to something which it has never been. It remains to be see how we use the newer HD TV mode. Much of what TV and the Internet are going to mean in our future depend to a large extent on what the standards of attainment become for educational potential for all citizen the nation can, and will, maintain. The educational advancement of the nations population must be safeguarded and revised for us to make best used of our technical attainments. We are self-contained now within an era in which find a multitude of vies say they prefer th 30-to- 50 year-old series programs being shown steadily on many non many channels. It appears that TV and our schools have stranded them there without guidance to newer, and potentially better level of attainment. Andrew McCaskey May 20, 2006 [c 472wds]
Friday, May 19, 2006
CULTURE CRUD I would not call myself a prude. Quite far from that, be it, herewith, recorded that neither do I get my bladder all a-bubble when life offers an innovative change from staid routines. So much of the media hype we swim in our means of listening to each other is sheer cosmetic concoctions compiled to make the mid-sets we already have even more intense and oppressing. Don't believe all you hear, see or think you did. This Di Vinci Code thing that's going the reading-seeing-roasting rounds right now, for instance, maliciously mingles medium thinking about a loose edge of theology and attaches to a story which would hardly qualify. To foist such a packet of mis-information off on the general to let them believe it to be fact rather than, as even the author of the book insists, it is intended to be read as fiction." One get the feel it is hardly worth of comment here or anywhere else. I get very much the same feeling about a "literary work" which is now in its final "road show" round for testing and and touch-up and right now it appears as if it will migrate to the United States within the next ninety days. It will, backers seem to feel, become believed, quickly accepted, praised and passed along as Broadway's favorite musical production. Even as it getting ready to be shipped out it seems unworthy. The show, which has been a sellout favorite at London's "National" Theater. The entire musical show is found upon a typical, two-day series of what blurbs have been lauding as "America's favorite TV show!" and is titled "Jerry Springer: The Opera". It is structured of a series of playlets or sketches done at a British Art Center theater to-do. The plot consists of typical Jerry Springer misfit people - to day-loads of such stellar characters and the first half of the play play sets up their problems. Very briefly one older, fat and unhappily married man, a transvestite, wants to be his girl friends baby. In their dancing she pulls his pants off and he is already wearing snow-white "nappies" - which will change to "diapers" in the American version. There is a line of dancing nurses and a fully gowned Klu Klux Klansman and white-hooded buddies burning a burning cross on stage and joined in their dance by the nurses and forty Jerry Springer, look-alikes. Jerry, having a rough day with such guests, shoots his warm up guy and is whisked off to Hello without delay to reconcile with Satan and Jesus. Who, after all is this Jerry Springer? God tries to save him and a dead guest nearby takes up for Jerry insisting he was really a rather nice fellow. He was all that bad. All he ever did was to hold a mirror to people's failings and desires so we might see them as they really are or were. Isn't it true we all want our Jerry Springer fifteen second of fame? Get ready. Watch for advance advertising lauding "Jerry Springer: The Opera". ..our next great Broadway musical production. Plan now to miss it. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net May 18, 2006 [535wds]
Thursday, May 18, 2006
AT LAST! I am another one of those persons who has been wondering for many years and occasionally asking why we allowed an open border, more or less, to the south. Since the first bombing of the Trade Towers in New York and the incident in which a man was caught bringing in explosives into Washington State. He, it was thought at the time, had plans to bomb the "Space Needle" in Seattle. He was was caught at the border by a more-or-less routine customs check. Had he tried to come into the country from Mexico, he may well have made it. Millions of such "illegals" do so each year; some again and again. If apprehended , entire bus loads of the "immigrants" are shipped back to Mexico. Many simply take a week's forced vacation with the relatives; then, re-cross the border to their same boarding house rooms and job which have been kept open expecting their return. This situation, to me, has been a major weakness in our National defense plans and it has made our Home and security a joke. I have not understood how it was ever thought it could be ignored. Had the nation along our southern border between a strong one, and an ally, a relaxed guard might be possible, but not in the present-day Mexico. President Vicente Fox, the present head of the government, is a friend and would curb the illegal flow of his people northward if he could do so. How so many Americans expect him to prevent alien infiltration of his country and ours is beyond my comprehension. Our National Guard is stressed in many ways. It will continue to be so until such time as our leaders get enough nerve to set up an efficient draft system to provide more troops. The deployment of National Guard troops to the Mexican border, must be a temporary thing and they must be limited to policing duties, construction of roads and work stations etc. rather than rushed in to "gun' em down with assault weaponry" as TV news clips are showing them doing. Theirs is a strange role in strange moment of our history. Their presence is more valuable, perhaps, than their power as he enlarge the Immigration Regulations forces already deployed along the border but not to replace them. President Bush's action was a first step. Further innovative steps are essential to solve the Immigration problems. Putting some real teeth in existing. No more blanket amnesty for employers who go along as if things are legal when they know full well the individual is here without authorization. They know his Social Security papers are faked, his health and criminal records glossed over, yet they hire him at a low wage anyway to make some business gains. He is not even chided for such dishonesty and duplicity. Let's clean up our own act - then worry about what needs to be done to help immigrants "come over" in a proper manner. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net May 17, 2006 [c509wds]
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
THE BALANCE There are people among us who insist that this Earth of ours and the society composing all such habitants have the world are set on downward, ruinous course. I can't believe it is so universally bad as some insist it has already become. I suppose it is natural for each generation to think of themselves as having been "put upon" to a greater degree than others; that their shortcomings were too severely punished. With such a hindsight iew, it might be possible to find some of the curative actions taken to have been too strict, perhaps, but, by and large, the balance maintained seems to have helped solved many of the problems for that partricular group or faction. Fairness not always judged strictly by numbers, but, rather, by enduring qualities of native improvements. Right now I find people who think they have it rough because they are, or not, counted as being "baby boomers." Other complainers pin the problem to "war", "The War" or specific ones such as "Afgan", "Iraq", "Desert", "Panama", various parts of old Tito-land as well as our current war on Terrorism. Various people choose aspects of these during which they were born to explain any cause of living. I have had a special lot if such eras on which I can blame all my failures. I was born during the World War I era; lived through the prosperous years up to 1929; thru all of the Great Depression years and my life changed radically to adjust to the demands of World War II and also the years of recovery after the war - always, for me, five years or so behind schedule in everything done. Yes, I agree that when you were born does play an important role in our lives and our individual accomplishments. The important thing to remember is that it must not be used as a crutch for support during all manner of ills physical or social in nature.. We must train ourselves to see the background as part of the overall picture and one of the many reasons why we have done certain things correctly...perhaps differently than others - but adequate and proper to meet today's essential needs. Use your background - what you have been - to become what you wish to be. Profit from the right choices you made; become aware of errors and avoid such pitfalls in your future. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net May 16, 2006 [c417wds]
Monday, May 15, 2006
THE LINE UP We are just beginning to become aware of the persons who are going to be active in the process of the election of a new president in the forthcoming election. The starting list is varied and the entire list will, of course, be unknown for weeks and even months, yet. Talk about the event has started and many of those from whom we have heard this early have, certainly been considering the possibility of such a run for many years. This is something that is rarely taken without deeply seated assurances make the extremely high costs worthy. There are wide elements of such expenditure, too. It demands cash, coins, species papers of all kinds, deft banking operations and there are social and psychic costs as well for candidates, their family and close associates. Amounts can hardly be calculated, but it is an oddity that all candidates - those who win as well as those who lose suffer some such loss. We have heard one such statement from a naturally honest and forthright man Colin Powell, who has very recently when urged by many to run for the office, said he would not be candidate and the reason which guided him to say so was obviously that he did not want to put his wife and family through such a campaign as would be necessary. Such a refusal, in itself, could strike some citizens as just the sort of thing which makes him an outstanding person and they will re-new their efforts to get him to run. Other national service work - yes; but the Oval Office? No. The "Ladies First" sign is a special feature of the run this time. The banner has been waved far and wide with more courage and assurance since Hillary Clinton took on the title and political twang of being a Senator from New York. Many people quickly accepted the idea that the nominating body of the Democratic party would rush to support any such attempt by Hillary Clinton to gain the nomination. The same people, so often, seemed to accept the idea that Secretary of State Condaleezza Rice would be the Republican named to oppose her. The war of two winning women seemed a sure thing to many, but I am still of the opinion that such a run - to be a success - must wait until the American voters are ready for a female head of state. Hillary Clinton still has to prove she is not Bill Clinton all over again and Condaleezza Rice has to prove she is not black. Each...both...and neither of them can do that which is, thus, required of them. It will be a while, I feel , before the average American voter is prepared to even consider electing a woman to the Presidential office. This is, I feel unfortunate, because we are avoiding some remarkable talent and special abilities as we pass over our capable women citizens. The American citizen, who take pride in being active as a steady voter does not, unfortunately, realize how ignorant and uninformed he or she might. It may be difficult for you to accept, but many vote-casters are often totally ignorant of that for which they are balloting. So many men seem to feel all women are thus situated; women think such mis-miscreants are men. Members of one party think the culprits are simply members of any other party or faction thereof. We are hearing names now and being treated to Commencement Speeches at various colleges and universities by "presidential hopefuls." Look at that list and see how many individuals you really think you "know". Check out names such as J. McCain, H. Clinton, C. Rice, Al Gore, N. Gingrich, J. Thomson, H. Giuliano and names from your state or general area. In my own Virginia sphere , two former governors are testing New Hampshire and Iowan political currents - Mark Warner and George Allen - who may mean nothing to you just as yours are unknown in my book We all have a lot to do learning about those who are interested in running. Try to decide why you vote at all! Most important - admit to yourself who or what compels you to vote as you have done, are doing and will - most likely continue to do. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 5-15-06 [c726wds]
Sunday, May 14, 2006
ARRAGANT AMERICANS Even as we are following established rules of conduct which should make us, at least, appear to be "regular guys", we seem to fall short of that much desired measurement in world opinion. What creates this obvious tendency in many sections of the peoples of this complex world? Is it a certain something we can put a finger and, possibly change? Or, is it caused by incidents in the past or anticipated wrongs which might occur in the constantly changing future? The "Hate America" banner , in some form or another, waves in the far corners of the Earth - even where we are, truly, all but unknown. When we find such signs we suspect they have been planted there by our enemies. This is, in all likelihood possible because among nation we have the same sneaky little jealous tendencies and enviousness which make social life into a living segment of Hell for so many malcontent individuals here in America who export their anger out of personal, deep-seated ignorance coupled, at times, with a marked tendency to refuse to conform when ,more or less, in agreement. We, at times, can be guilty of actually exporting such discontent through our oft-called "cultural exchanges" and by washing our political laundry openly displayed on international clothes lines for everyone to see and interpret by their own reasoning. Hatred comes, very often, from what we may think of as petty circumstances. For example, I had no idea that the Arapaho tribe and others, long residents of the Black Hills area of our Dakotas, North and South, objected so strongly. Many of them hate the Mount Rushmore memorial and wish the entire monument blow to bits! The May 2006 issue of "Smithsonian Magazine" (www.smithsonianmag.si.edu) has a fine article detailing the construction and its troubles. Originally, it seems, the plan called for it to be a massive represent ion of Chief Crazy Horse with lesser depictions of the Lewis & Clark Expedition and of Buffalo Bill. It shifted to other plans about like the ground Zero site in underway in New York right now. It was started in 1925 and today shows four white men, all presidents of the United States and no Indian chief at all. It all climaxed when the monument was completed in 1941. Since that time more Indians than Custer ever saw have wished it could be blown to smithereens. No doubt a few Yankee holdovers say some nasties when the see the Robert E Lee carved on Stone mountain, Georgia. In what seems to be largely a belated attempt to placate some of the disturbed persons a mega monument is now being carved on a mountain side not too far from away. The head of the new mountain is large enough to contain all four of the prexy head on Mt. Rushmore. So, there! The Natalie Halloway case in Aruba created an enmity in that so many Americans seem to feel that our F.B.I. could have solved the case in a week or so. It seemed to make little difference that the event took place in another country operating under rules and regulations of their own which are quite different from ours. his attitude and the heavy news coverage of the vents The "arrogant American" become evident in the mind of many Dutch citizens and others. Hate America banners wave in far too many lands,very ofter as offshoots of disagreement among factions here at home. The sentiment against war, for instance, can, at times, even align itself with actions leading to violence. We may think we are acting with everyones best interests at heart, but that is a vain concept because we don't even know our own intent most of the time. Back off a bit. Think it through. Question your own motives. Do you typify the "arrogant American"? Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 3-14-06 [c646wds]
Saturday, May 13, 2006
NOW! The best time to gather in firewood for use during the months of winter is the summer time - now. Precisely, the late summer and fall days are better. Working wood can be more pleasant in late summer or Fall. That's prelude to a suggestion which keeps bugging me as I ride along our Interstate and Regular highways. We ride for endless miles and see, on both sides of the speed strips , an endless array of dead or downed trees, knotted growths of struggling saplings - ten or twelve trying to grow in an area where three might reach maturity if given a fair chance. I can think of three good reasons why this excess supply of usable firewood ought to put to use. First: large segments of our population burn wood to heat their homes and cook their foods as well as other uses and they would - I'm sure - welcome a less expensive source of fuel. This would, in time, cut down on the use of electricity and of other means of heating. Secondly: a great many of our forest fires and brush-fires start along highways when unthinking persons toss cigarette stubs from car windows or when careless campers mis-use fire in their hurry to rest and to recreate. A third reason for using this excess material which Nature provides so abundantly is unseen but real. Such use would lower the amount of harmful gases generated by rotting vegetation. Rotting is burning at a slower rater. It creates gases and residue some of which can be good for many other plants but which also harms parts of our general environment. If you have any doubts about that little quirk of Nature stand close to a cud-chewing, contented, cogitating cow where , when you take even just a shallow breath, you can be driven along the edge of illness. You can find other reasons why non-use of such a handy resource is wasted. I would like to see some sort of legislation, possibly with each state's highway construction and maintenance programs which would enable landowners, if they agreed, to have their property adjacent to highways "cleaned" annually. The state contacts with individuals in various localities have such work done which would safely, economically and steadily remove downed, dying and unsightly debris from such areas at some set distance - perhaps a quarter of a mile back from the highway berm. I should think it would prove too difficult and very unwise simply to open such activity to just any private citizen in need of firewood. by granting permission to work in such areas. It could well be fashioned so that it worked to benefit local fund raising or , in some areas , it could become a source of revenue. Why should we continue to ignore such an opportunity for us to create what the media and some politicians can truly call "new jobs"? The next time you visit your mega-market, take note of the little bundle of leftover carpentry wood pieces, hand-picked from your local housing development sites - selling to firewood buyers for around $3.00 a bundle - about ten-cents per stick, at the least. To waste such a ready source of revenue is simply wrong. Can we get busy and correct it to everyone's advantage? Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 5-13-06 [c559wds]
Friday, May 12, 2006
BIG "Z" MUSIC I like to listen and to move about to the sounds of "zydeco" music. I can name it, specifically, largely because was, for so long, it remained, for me, strange,foreign-flavored - even flawed. I didn't even know what it was called until fairly recently. How could I like a thing which seemed to be incomplete, raw, unfinished and ever-moving before my pursuit? Yet, today, when I hear it, see it being done, or, actually participate in the making of the thing, I hear, and have to deal with a tug of consciousness with which I must deal personally as it grabs at my inner being. In some, strange way "Z" seems to be at the lower of things musical. It rates far down, if at all, with serious musical preferences lists,I'm sure, yet it has strange, compulsive appeal for me - as if it were telling me "this is truly where you are musically. As is, I think, true in so many cases, the difference found in this and another type of musical composition, has a great deal to do with with instrumentation, too. Bluegrass -for instance - traditionally demands set selection of instrumentals. Zydeco, in like manner, demands certain physical equipment to remain authentic. There is always a fiddle, for instance, played by two names - a rollicking, jaunty fiddle at times and yet, as background coloring, violin sounds prevail. Players meld such styles change instinctively, often without being aware of doing either as a strict discipline. The soul of zydeco may well be in that subtle area - the mindset of the fiddle player. If so, it would be, I think and hold over from conventional Bluegrass and other folk music types. A rhythm board is another requirement. This is, to some, a mundane aspect they had rather not see around because it is a common,conventional home-use, corrugated metal wash board. Fancier styles are refashioned as a garish vest worn by the performer with brightly corrugated areas on rhythm panels. Th "instrument" provides a steady, easily acceptable beat which is part of zydecos structural makeup. It is played with thimble-tipped fingers and the ultimate result is a "mushy" sound which can be likened to the ultra-mod electronic imitations of a triple paradiddle sound from a well-touched snare drum. The sound has static edges but fluid entrails. While being, in reality, made up of parts it sounds as a unified segment background - a kind of slush not unlike a composer's use of a solid shelf of full chords upon which to rest a harmonically augmented lead line - thought of as being a melody or tune. Zydeco exemplifies "corn" to many critics. That's an understandable feeling, I'd say, because it does, at times, resemble the "ticky-tacky-too" element heard by many earlier jazz forms of our l920's. With understanding of the social source of each type of music people get over such feelings of disgust. Additional instrument requirement was added in the l840's when Germanic are developed the accordion.. It found its windy way into zydeco bands as a small, mushy, modified, version also know as a harmonium, a bandalore, a squeeze box, and some mis-named it completely by think it to be a concertina. The usual instruments so often seen today is limited to use, in the main, and we seldom see nothing other than an octave-and-half version always triggered by buttons to the left and right. Advanced models play in several major and minor keys. The "accordion" and the fiddle share melodic duties and back each other. Other instruments may vary - six-strings guitars, mandolin, dulcimer, five-string banjo,reeds, bass viol any one of which can influence the overfall feel of a specific zydeco band to give it a "style". This variation, plus exceptional musicianship and technical abilities of many individuals so involved, keeps the genre awake and growing. Even if "just for fun": listen in on this zydeco sound. A.L.M. May 12, 2006 [c673wds]
Thursday, May 11, 2006
PLAYING WITH BLOCS Rain is such a simple thing. Yet,for want of such a blessing, entire lives and careers can swerve unsteadily, even be destroyed. The loss of a promised crop can spell disaster for many people even now in modern times. We used to hear a great deal more about such agricultural concerns years ago when our population included farm dwellers - workers, owners, lease-holders, and associated industrial and commercial business firms in towns, villages and cities build around farmland cores. They made up a political force well worth consideration by any candidate for whatever office rural or urban, local, statewide - even national. To avoid it called for extreme caution. Rural elements gained new respect in the "New Deal" - F.D.R..era -when it,too, changed to alphabetical designations for each and every segment so that they lost their meaning for most folks. When treated as a political unit it began to fade away. Joined together as a union concepts it started to fade away - it fragmented into grape growers, wheat behemoths, corn cabals ranging from solid trough liquid renditions, sugar cane , rice growers - et al - each classified, re-shaped and coded to be exclusive, self-regulating and coded to work as something it never really became. The family "community" withered and was swept away,in part as a physical entity, by a momentous, natural tragedy of the time, known by today's "social studies" booklets as "The Dust Bowl" era. I remember one subtle little mechanism by which the new way was nudged or forced to go along and unlikely path. The Editor-Publisher-Owner of our local weekly newspaper and print shop in our rural town, by out of the reasonably blue haze of the New Deal sky shielding new concepts, was suddenly named to be Undersecretary of the Something in the of agricultural maze in ,around or near the Foggy Bottom of . He was, as I recall, from Iowa or some mid-western state, and understood what "great, n big farmin'" as all about. Lesser powers took over at home and I don't recall ever hearing from him again, other than a weekly boilerplate handout column he did for home town publications - plus reams of press releases. When told to do so, our paper was emblazoned with "Blue Eagle" artwork - symbols of our rural unity strength and loyalty. Many years later I found other instances where rural editors had been chosen to augment the undersecretary forces in Washington. I don't have any idea if it worked or not, but it does show how the farm bloc vote was to political planners of that day. The agricultural person of today is quite a departure from the one of just a few decade ago. The simple fact that it can be either to wet or too dry for him to function in his present-day role as producer of a product useful to mankind which society about him wants, needs and is willing to make a proper payment. A.L.M. May 11, 2006 [c504wds]
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
AT THE TOP It seems to me that we had better accept the idea of naming a military man to head up a section of our government we conveniently choose to call "non-militant" by nature. Our overall concept of what the counter intelligence twig of our governmental organizational tree is supposed to accomplish is rather vague to start with and the ground rules are constantly being tweaked to make sure in someone's mind that we are not stepping on someone's touchy toes by making it impossible for a dictatorship to rise up and smite us. Could there be any better reason for putting a military-minded man in charge from time-to-time? Let's avoid names in this, for the time being. If our President has found a men whom he feels can do the job as he wishes it to be done, then, he certainly, should be allowed to nominate that person or whatever procedure one must undergo to enable such a talent to be an active part of his administration. Granted, there is a chance that such an individual - military or civilian - might, in some way, seek to gain unauthorized power. There are those among us right now who would, at this point, insist that we went far along such a road in those days when J. Edgar Hoover was, for many years, in charge of our FBI. Others, would quibble about the illegal nature of some "New Deal" actions and of F.D.R's "P.H." factor. Still others would wonder about the mysterious absence of restricted documents which turned up, eventually, in casual reading material at the White House. We talk about these and other incidents which are a bit aside from the straight and even narrow path we profess to be ideal. Admittedly, it is possible that a dictatorship might well have been established on such a base at some point in the man's attempts to organize himself and his activities. The entire question becomes moot if you think about the number of leaders we have been authorized to care for our clandestine information sources have been civilians who are accepted, praised and promoted to even higher office because they have served in one of our military services. Far wiser, it would seem, for us to be concerned over the fragmentation of our basic institutional ideals - not so much changes in our way of doing thing but in our basic reasons for doing them at all. Now, go on back to today's news and put in name of the specific "General" who's name has been set forth by our President - like many before him - a former military man. We make a news game of checking out their "Good Conduct Medals," "Ruptured Ducks" and and their "Purple Heart" collections. Occasionally, there is conflict and we step aside. Let's try to keep it that way. A.L.M. May 10, 2006 [c487wds] fulkp
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
TUNE-UP It was a good feeling for me to see that "Fats" Domino was among those stars chosen to perform during the re-starting of the celebrated New Orleans Jazz Festival last week. Domino has never been a personal favorite of mine, largely because I stem from a slightly earlier era is which the use of the term "Fats" in music applied exclusively to "Fats" Waller who was a musical force to be reckoned with. I felt, and feel, that much of the material Domino does so well is not quite of the New Orleans jazz style, but more of what the genre has been becoming. Domino was just the right choice to hold up as symbolic of defiance against such encroaching factors as the hurricane, flood and great losses sustained. And, we did the proper thing last Sunday when he was scheduled to be on stage,by appearing-though ill - to personally thank people present for all they had done to make him what he has become and to encourage to work hard to restore the festival. He was a very real victim of the natural disaster, having lost home in the desolated North Ward of the ;ten musical instruments, plus his entire silver and platinum recording recognitions and other mementos of his career. He was speaking to other people who can do something about it all,too. Bruce Springsteen was there; Bob Dylan, Jimmy Buffet,Paul Simon as well as Irma Thomas, the soul singer. Even if these singers, composers, producers do not seem to fit the exact street definitions of what you think the New Orleans ought to be, they are brethren of a common cause to sustain a section of jazz which is so typically American. Pete Fountain was there, of course as a good example of how someone of special talent can find an authentic place in the New Orleans heritage. Local artists Art Neville and his three brothers were there in essence as they have always been. Irma Thomas sang "In the Middle Of It All", too. Domino, who had severe heart surgery done this past season served as a key to it all in a real sense and his being present will be remembered and,I hope, appreciated. It is not at all disturbing that this years attendance at the Festival was smaller than the usual brag-about-it figures, but the Jazz Festival was,truly, re-launched and will do well, I feel, in this era of electric guitars and digital innovations. We are already well into a next pop music world! The Jazz era needs constant redefinition to sustain its unique characteristics and New Orleans can be the focal point where such music can be sustained and properly memorialized. A.L.M. May 9, 2006 [c467wds]
Monday, May 08, 2006
FRAIDY CAT TIMES By this time you may have forgotten what "Y-2" was all about not too many years ago...six or seven, perhaps. Remember those times? As with bad dreams you would rather forget most of it but it was a time when many people lived in fear and fully expected disaster to strike all of us! When we faced the beginning of the new century many people did what Mankind has, apparently, always has done when a new century was about to begin. It sound silly, but records indicate that when a millennium is ahead, people get edgy and can't quite accept the idea that what they have is more-or-less permanent and not subject to sudden withdrawal. They invent all manner of evil which might bring about such catastrophic change. It is easy enough for us to recall that this was done by "other" people. Other people see us as other people ,however, and many who will not admit it had some set fears about what was going to happen when the world slipped into a new one hundred year sequence of days, weeks, months and years. Just to "play it safe" many others stock piled essentials such a fuel oil, canned goods to feed home-bound families, gas, oil and extra tires for the cars and trucks, and batteries of all kinds, because a major possibility was that all electric grids were going to go dead at midnight of the last night of the year, or just dim at that moment and gradually fade away. The ocean tides were set to do some strange movements, as well, changing usual old land masses to new configurations. Airport runways would buckle and split and train task would warp wildly. Silly wasn't it? But serious talk about potential disaster was a part of living for many people during those last months of the dying century."Back fence gossip" dwelt on the dangers facing Mankind even wile we were unaware of such dangers as the terrorist threats which have come our way in reality and for which we could have been preparing. When the great night arrived we watched fireworks burst in unequaled splendor all around or under from Sydney. We experienced old feelings of exhaust and hangovers as a natural part of such celebrations. Few people seemed to be concerned what had become of the pending disasters which had been forecast. Right now, today many people are predicting the outcome of our wars and other conflicts. Some - once again "other people" are at the root of such dissent. Many suggested ways to end or "finish-off" our troubles are D.O.A. because they are based on tings which are supposed to take place - "maybe", "perhaps"or "if". Get real. Nothing is going to be perfect. Let's relax and do the best we can with what we have at hand. That which "might be" - may not. A.L.M. May 8, 2006 [c497wds]
Sunday, May 07, 2006
GAS UP! By what values do you actually live? We self-set such standards, and, very often, make a vocative show of our basic choices when some abrupt change takes place in our living sphere - such as the recent surges in the price of gasoline. The average,nation wide price of gasoline $2.92 per gallon as of Friday, May 5, 2006. At one nearby location members of our family bought gasoline at $2.74 per gallon. The price varies daily in each region and there seems to be no obvious or readily apparent reason for the change other than the price the selling site across the highway has just posted. Users seek a reason and make one up out of the whole cloth of some really wild possibilities when the cause of the changes are not specified to their liking. Different people see the cause as originating in different places, too. Gasoline price have always been on an upward scale over the course of many yesteryears. A gallon of gasoline we bought in, let's say - 1924 - the year my father bought his first car, were in the range of 17-20-some cents, as I recall. In the intervening years, the price has worked it way up the scale to, shall we say, roughly $3.00 per gallon and more in some areas. At this point we must start to understand and respect the quality and quantity of the product. Quantity remains pretty much the same. We buy products by set measures - a gallon, in this case...ounces, pounds, inches, yards, rods, acres, but often forget how much the quality might vary. We also assume such changes are always for the good of the user, but that need not be the case. In the food industry, for example, people demand that caffeine be removed, to a large extent, from their coffee even while they support the ever expanding number of caffeine-laden sports drinks, sodas, health, and energy enhancers. to which the excess coffee caffeine has been transferred. The quality of gasoline may well be better today and during even those halcyon days of nostalgic memories. So much can depend on specific and specialized uses to which it might be applied and to safety and environmental requirements in certain areas. Quality has been improved both by taking things out and by adding to the basic composition , as well. In 1924, my Dad bought a brand new car of a popular make for $333.00. Other cars, such a foreign imports and bigger show-cars went of over $2,000. The prices are quite a bit higher today. The 30-cent gas is now $3.00. You may fail to remember when a "loaf" of bread cost 8-10-or 12-cents but think what it costs you today. There is plenty of room for argument about quality there, as well, but I don't hear many voices demanding that the "big flour" firms be punished. And, more people insist now on what each of them calls "quality" in their driving - which ranges from essential aids to safer driving all the way down to the most foolish excess of the silliest kind. Think a bit about this gas price problem we are having, before you go placing "blame" for it on anyone in particular. In a very real sense we have all had a hand in it. We all have more control over it than we may, at first, realize. Ours is a large country in a physical sense and it is unwise to try to compare our driving habits with those of European nations. Many or our states are far larger than entire nations elsewhere, but, if we wish to do so, we can cut down on the quantity of our driving and still maintain the quality thereof and, along with it, better price control. A.L.M. May 7, 2006 [c647wds]r
Saturday, May 06, 2006
SPECIAL: THIS MONTH That's the planet Jupiter showing off all this month in the star sprinkled sky show for all to see. NASA reminded me and I'm reminding you to get out there to take a fresh look at this tremendous chunk of planetary real-estate. It is an especially good time in which to do so, because Jupiter will be just 410 million miles away from Earth which is about 200 million miles. And that's closer than it was last October when we didn't tell you to take a special look. You have to look toward the east at around sunset. There's Big J shining ten times brighter than anything else trying to get attention this month. You can watch it rising into the sky and if you have a backyard telescope - which not many people do - you can actually see Jupiter's cloud belts, its Great Red Spot and the four, large moons the planet sports - Europa - one of the most interesting of remaining moons we have not visited, one called Io. Then, Ganymede and Callisto. All four are circling Jupiter. For those of us without backyard, side or front yard telescope facilities, it will take a bit of imagination but you can manage if you give it half a try. When you do so,imagine that the big ball you see called Jupiter is sorta squashed from top to bottom -[not exactly round as a ball should be. It as if somebody heavy sat on it at one time, but it is actually caused by the fact that it turns around so fast that the mid-section sorta pushed out into whatever is not there. It's like a fat man blaming his bay-window belly on the pull of the ocean's tide when he goes swimming. It moves along so fast that it is possible to view then entire round trip of the planets circle in one night of viewing. You'll want to to identify the four moons , of course, visit Jupiter's "Sea of Tranquility, and ,perhaps, drop in on the big Red Spot which you will find is a hurricane which measures about twice a wide as Earth , which churns across Jupiter's clouds endlessly. Be ready to get a possible squint a smaller version called "Red Jr." will follows in the path set by Big Red. "Jr." usually tags along about two hours after Dad has done his darnedest. Jupiter is 318 more massive than Earth'. It is more or less 410 million miles away and,don't ask me why, but it's gravitational pull is downright "feeble"...something like 34-million times less than the gravitational pull that holds us on Earth. Listen to what NASA tells you, brother. The things they talk about are, to me at least, hints of what tomorrow's news will be - make that 'the day after tomorrow, perhaps. Now, back to reality for a serious moment. Do you remember when we could save and mail in box tops to win "valuable prizes"? What box tops, can your tell me, should I be saving to get one of those backyard telescopes? A.L.M. May 6, 2006 [c528wds]
Friday, May 05, 2006
IGNORE IT! I have long held a view that the proper treatment for offensive, salacious, obscene entertainment material which comes my way is to ignore it. If I happened to view a TV show I did not like I felt I wrongly favored and gave it a measure of approval simply by recognizing it existed. I learned long ago that people who produce such material see negative comments as an indication they have "touched a nerve or two out there" and they do all they can to enhance the lewd factors which bring in such reactions. I have been unaware of the fact that it even existed until I chanced upon a feature article - not an advertisement which will come later - in the Norwich Evening NEWS - noting that a new dramatic presentation which has been "the smash hit" of London's West End. The production - now on road tour - comes to the stage of my favorite theaters - Theatre Royale in the city of Norwich, Norfolk County, about a hundred miles northeast of London. The trouble begins with the title. This strange creation, written by Stewart Lee (Director/writer) and composer Richard Thomas who did the lyrics also. They chose to develop their play entitled "JERRY SPRINGER:THE OPERA" after being performed at the Edinburgh (Scotland) "Fringe Festival" in the summer of 2002. The "plot" of the opera is outlined for us: "Basically the plot ....involves one day in the life of the talk show host (said to be "America's favorite") with two sets of guests. There are tap-dancing Ku Klux Klan members with a burning cross, dancing nurses and forty Jerry Springer look-alikes all singing en masse on stage. "The theme the talk show is What's My Secret? Guests include an obese man cheating on his prissy wife with a fat hippy and a transvestite with a heart of gold and a man telling his fiance that he wants to be a baby and pulls off his suit to reveal white nappies! Jerry is shot dead by his fired warm-up guy, and goes to hell and has to reconcile Satan and Jesus. God tries to save him and a dead guest argues that he isn't bad at all, he just holds a mirror to people's failings and desires and in the end of the day everyone just wants their Jerry Springer moment, their fifteen seconds of fame." That's the gist of this dramatic achievement. If any of my friends in the Norwich area can tell me some redeeming factors, I'd be willing to take a second look at it. The next three nights of this next week folks are going to be shelling out from five-pounds to twenty-seven-fifty to see this startling revelation of life in America and 5 or 27:50 ain't goobers. After all, it's probably still best to simply ignore this sort of thing. A.L.M. May 5, 2006 [c482wds]
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