Saturday, September 23, 2006
BIGGER BEN
The one man considered to be both the Time-Keeper and Pay-Master of most of the Arabic troubles around the world - Ben Laden - is reported to have died of natural causes. The "news" items was published in a French newspaper and it contained few factual features as you might expect. It was a enough, however, to set Intelligence Units scurrying about asking each other if they found it to be true or just another tale set wagging get our attention. The latest reports I've heard are still marked: "Case In Progress". This reminds one somewhat of he manner in which the Marshals nailed up posters reading: "Wanted: Dead or Alive" of doors and rough-lumbered walls. Most Americans I talk with seem to prefer that Ben Laden be brought in alive and kicking. They don't go along with this idea of his being allowed to die of natural cause at all. Many seem to feel that Saddam set a good president by digging, or having a hole dug in the ground where he might hide from his tormentors. Those very same people, now at they see the rather cumbersome bulk of the Saddam trial slowly etching itself in our history books, they wonder would have been better off to have simply have leveled that back lot and bulldozed it heavily. How do you feel about old Ben Laden? He has, on this day alone, fallen as a victim of a dozen ailments." I have always said" - critics now claim "he looked sickly - probably diabetes!" In don't know if the French news item mention any particular malady which might have caused his reported death.I've heard it was "sugar", cancer, Alzheimer's , and I expect a few more be before night falls. I, for one, will be glad see him pecking his rocky way down that rocky mountain side - always down, down, down, never up to brighter, sunnier views of the world. We cannot favor any of the suggested punishments we hear people talking about. We must check, first, to see if they can be equated with the possible intent of the framers of the Geneva conventions which have just recently been re-discovered. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 9-23-06 [c376wds]
Friday, September 22, 2006
THAT'S BEEN CHANGED! Even change is not the same. We are certainly about as involved in change as we have ever been and even the nature of doing modified - or has it? Assume, for the moment, that you are a manor woman living in pre-historic times and you realize you are feeling pangs of hunger. Top meet that need you will turn to something we now call "Trial and Error". You have found by observing which plants the wild animals of the area ate and which ones they avoided. You tried some and found some you liked; others seemed unpleasant and by trial and error you discarded item after and ate the others. The seeds, blooms, buds, fruits, and stems. shoots, nuts and berries you chose seemed to help sustain you ; enabled you to move about easier searching for more of them which was your main work. Gradually you made changes. Why not store some of the nuts and other items in the wall of the cave? Or,in that hollow...in a skin folded over upon itself to protect them. Those wonderings came to mind and changes were made....leading, in time, to storage barns,silos and agricultural crop care and tenure. I can remember not too many years ago all those people who were sure the year 2000 was the end of it all. I think the vast majority of those persons who were so disappointed by the failed mega-disasters of the Midnight Hour regained at least a portion of their former dedication to dire predictions concerning the presence of the computer in all mankind's affairs today. It is now the role of the evil computer to finish up the job the millennium left so undone. Much has been forgotten but some of such fear is still to be found in those who picture the computer always as the competitor forever an per-destined enemy rather than a learned friend and associate. If controlled by evil men, it can, indeed, be a prime danger. Now in this age in which we are privileged to live, we see such changes almost every day. In the past artists used to gather together in the summer months annually to make artists drawings, endless sketches , technical drawings of precise details, fashioning clay models on plywood armatures would be made to show the always un-finished and costly ideas to engineers who, in turn would explain them to workers who built the cars by following those instructions. Now, the new cars we are now seeing on the highways are design-engineered as three-dimensional sketches on a computer. Under the old system no one knew what cost factors might be or how much aesthetic changes and and modifications might add to the cost of the car but with computer controlled design and production such costs can be incorporated with technical information. The advances brought about by changes in computer technology are readily apparent in the construction industries, as well. Look about you. See for yourself this fantastic world of change in which we are preparing for even better generations. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 9-22-06 [c527wds]
Thursday, September 21, 2006
GLASS MANAGEMENT We have to go back few years ago when Senator Huey Long made it a regular habit of lambasting anyone who seemed to stand in his way as he blindly sought to make himself virtually the dictator of the United States of America. When we make a short trip such as this one which we would rather not have to admit it is a genuine, authentic, deeply seated part of the expanse of events we call our national history. Part of being a mature nation, a cognoscente, capable and caring people, is, no doubt, to be found in the degree to which we can realize that which was right and good and wholesome and those elements which unthinkably immature and unworthy of the ideals we profess and proclaim with our every action. The reality of the rise of Huey Long is one such incident we should keep in mind, but for this moment, I wish to call attention to a specific act he engaged in when he was at the peak of his strange, dominating aura of power. Justs the other day, the current President of Venezuela, speaking before the United Nations after several days of conferences, hearty hailings and Ursa huggings - bear hugs shared with each of them in turn - the masters of the moment in Cuba and Iran. No need to mention their names because there are others, no doubt, within the UN body politic who join with them in hatred for all things American. The President of Venezuela - Chavez - served as a rather clumsy spokesperson for all when he addressed the assembly and vilified our President George W. Bush with countless epithets and crude innuendos underlying his fiery tirade. He called Bush "the devil"... "who spoke as if he owned he world"... as an "imperialist" and other such sick-stock terms. Now, return to our Huey Long example for a moment.... Senator Huey Long had the floor of the Senate. He was berating the gentleman Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia Carter Glass. Glass had withdrawn to the Closet Rooms for a rest and respite from the vile things he knew would be uttered. Urgent word was sent to Senator Glass urging him to return to the Senate Chamber to defend himself. Those imploring him to reply were surprised - even a bit shocked as some people are today in moment such as this. Many years ago, Senator Carter Glass in speaking of the Huey Long tirade lashing out at him, personally, is reported to have said - rather quietly and with a glimmer in his bright eyes: "When I was just a lad, my father told me never to engage in a pissing contest with a skunk!" George W. Bush, I feel, would understand Carter Glasses statement and could have quoted it. Said today it would offend some people, get him to lose TV coverage and incite certain religious writer to new, even lower levels of journalistic fury. Americans citizens, in general, I like to think would agree with Glass and Bush. Deep down many, I feel would at that very moment start thinking through other quotations to help the people Venezuela... the people of Cuba the people of , perhaps a score or more lands where wavering government mis-rule their lives. For starters, how about thinking through one by Erma Brombeck: " A child needs your love when he deserves it least." Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 9-21-06 [c-575wds]
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
SITAR
I can't recall any time when I have ever seen a real, authentic "sitar." That's one of the ancient Hindustani musical instruments which has had a modest renewal of popularity in modern music. It deserves some added attention, I feel.
I certainly must have walked past one of them somewhere in a display but I'm often thinking of other things in museums and I may have looked at one without actually seeing it. I have heard it, however...on recordings and tapes. I have witnessed it being played by skilled musician-gymnasts on television and on films. It is an instrument which demands much of the persons who deigns to make it express itself well.
The sitar has sixteen strings in its most popular version which contrasts readily in the American mind where four was enough for ukuleles, banjos, and six for guitars - plus double-sets for mandolin-like 12-stringers. The Sitar has from 16 to 20 strings normally, some more and some less depending on the local area's preference. Notice that the sitar has two bridges; long made of ivory, later of camel bone or horn. The larger bridge is for the playing strings and drones. The Secondary Bridge runs under the man one and is for sympathetic strings running beneath the main playing strings above. The bridge is wider and as a string vibrates its length changes slightly as it touches the bridge edge and the result is a distinctive sound or tone. To maintain that "jawari" tone one must polish the bridge as needed. Many players ,including Ravi Shank arm, hire professionals to keep their instruments in tune, In a general sense the instrument is tune to C# or D, and the drone strings are tuned to the equivalent of an open major or minor chord in Western music theory. The sympathetic strings are usually tuned for each song played at the discretion of the player or composer who often states a preference. Don' t forget to tune your main playing strings as well. That's done by turning wooden pegs at the of the hollow neck, then "fine tune" each of them by sliding a bead fitted around each of them.
Learning to play is also a time consuming process. Expect a years-long apprenticeship if you plan enrolling in school anytime soon. You have to learn the basic mechanics of construction of the instrument and by learning to provide background chords of proper size and shape upon which to apply your melody. Then, you slide your index finger of your left hand up and down a single melody string which you then pluck with the finger of other hand.
There, you are! You have sound your first note! You are on the way to becoming the the nation's leading player of the sitar.
But remember this: no one ever said it would be easy!
Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 9-20-06 [c-492wds]
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
WHY AND HOW?I’ve been told what the Hezbollah organization is an how it came to be what so many millions of people seem to think it is today but the “why” element is somehow less than confident in my thinking. In what condition must the mind of entire nations of people to allow themselves to be even tempted to accept the rule of such overbearing and demanding presence? Initially, I feel, we must accept the fact that it not a “foreign” concept at all; not “an Arabic thing”. It can happen here. It has happened in some unlikely places around the world. We pride ourselves in being an open, receptive society and if any nation is subject to such a friendly “invasion” we are it. Many would think of us as being a prime target – a prime ready for the taking. A major religious party in Lebanon – the Shia Muslims – the largest religious community, developed a “protective” force which assisted in forwarding their religious aims. They were successful in getting financial support from nearby Iran as basis for becoming “the Islamic Resistance”. Their emphasis on social nearby Iran. They showcased efforts their religious pretentious forms and medical care for everyone, won many converts to their banner. It established itself as highly respected part of the Lebanon government. They “augmented” the Lebanon military forces rather than “replaced” them. They were “dissolved” by a United Nation’s Resolution in 2004 when 14,000 Syrian troops were sent home and the “militia” was to be disarmed. Hezbollah, a religious unit, was not strictly a militia .They ignored the U.N. order. After Lebanon's Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in February 2005, for which Syria was blamed, it caused affairs of the two nations to be conducted secretly. Hezbolla, at that time, was restyled to offer trouble to the Israelis. They adopted terrorist tactics as their method of operation and they imposed strict Islamic rule in towns and villages they occupied. It was thought that Lebanon might become an Islamic state but they the multi-confessional state was maintained which has lasted into our own time It was Hezbollah fighters who carried out the suicide bombing attack which killed 240 US marines in Beruit. Do we, here in America , have any religious factions large enough, strong enough to cause us the fear, or even consider that someone might take over our government functions in the name of a religion-oriented theory? Could such a thing ever happen to us? Most America would say no. But we might imagine our good King George III, in his advanced, unsteady years musing: "Who, I wonder, mis-counted the number of loyal Tories in those colonies!" Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 9-19-06 [c-456wds]
Monday, September 18, 2006
HERE WE GO AGAIN I cannot say that the season we call "Fall is a favorite of mine. It has some merit, of course, such as the colorful changing of the leaves with blasts of brilliant color chording tones of color in such remarkable harmony. The subtle, then harsh changes in hues forms boundless union with the last, silent, deep green of leaves and grass remaining. There are nights made more comfortable for comfortable sleep by whispers of cool winds. Yes, there is much merit in the Fall season and I only begrudgingly allow the intrusion - usually every four years or so - of the first rumblings of impending political campaigns to begin. We call them "the Primaries" which is, I suppose, about as fundamental sounding tag one might find for them. Primary elections are rather noisy affairs, because they are the place where new candidates for political office are introduced to the voting public and his name must be associated with the program he is to espouse. People say: "Who's he or she or she?" They get to know that person's "qualifications for the office...."and all voters must be made familiar with the candidates venturing into their political area. There may well be more party-parties with loud music being used to encourage more back-slapping and arm shaking than usual. If the candidate has an occupational background which is, in the least unusual, then that sound of his or her vocational niche must be echoed in the rafters of every convention hall or voter's habitat, vehicles, and place of business and of food intake. It is only just and right that everyone might suffer equally, so don't complain too much. Just pray, fervently, please - that your political party does not run many hard-rock singers and musicians as candidates for whatever in your political area this fine Fall. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 9-18-06 [c-322wds]
Sunday, September 17, 2006
BE IT EVER It is, no doubt, good that the traditional American home might retains the quality of being always "humble". The old song has it eternally displayed as a highly respected quality, but we cannot say they our present concept of "home"as being "ever so stable. When we see the extent of disaster of heavy rain and strong damage it is obviously a fact that "stability" is not a prime requisite guiding the construction of replacement housing units in the the area. For someone to purposely, build sub-standard housing in the area should be prohibited or, at least controlled by legally requiring those individuals who do so to be held responsible for potential protective measures, losses and additional replacement costs in the future. Many builders, possibly, accept the idea that their houses may have qualities that typify them as being hospitable, folksy, lived-in or comply with elements of good manners, and pleasant, untroubled living - as in the old song which is so seldom heard being sung from the heart of Americans today. The price tag on the average American home is getting higher. It will continue doing so long as residents thereof and potential homeowners, as well, continue to demand increasing exotic and expensive far beyond their real income. Ours expressed desires today often far exceed he bounds of actual income. We are, at this moment, witnessing a major automotive manufacturing firm "re-aligning" their entire way of doing business. They are promising, when they are once more viable: "to make cars people want". We are quick to sense humility returning where the the original founder of the Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford made humble cars people desired - the famous Model T. We need to examine our lives and our house building and house-buying. Let's do it before we are forced to make such changes. Modest modifications can be done easily. Marked hanges can hurt. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 9-17-06 [c331 wds] BE IT EVER It is, no doubt, good that the traditional American home might retains the quality of being always "humble". The old song has it eternally displayed as a highly respected quality, but we cannot say they our present concept of "home"as being "ever so stable. When we see the extent of disaster of heavy rain and strong damage it is obviously a fact that "stability" is not a prime requisite guiding the construction of replacement housing units in the the area. For someone to purposely, build sub-standard housing in the area should be prohibited or, at least controlled by legally requiring those individuals who do so to be held responsible for potential protective measures, losses and additional replacement costs in the future. Many builders, possibly, accept the idea that their houses may have qualities that typify them as being hospitable, folksy, lived-in or comply with elements of good manners, and pleasant, untroubled living - as in the old song which is so seldom heard being sung from the heart of Americans today. The price tag on the average American home is getting higher. It will continue doing so long as residents thereof and potential homeowners, as well, continue to demand increasing exotic and expensive far beyond their real income. Ours expressed desires today often far exceed he bounds of actual income. We are, at this moment, witnessing a major automotive manufacturing firm "re-aligning" their entire way of doing business. They are promising, when they are once more viable: "to make cars people want". We are quick to sense humility returning where the the original founder of the Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford made humble cars people desired - the famous Model T. We need to examine our lives and our house building and house-buying. Let's do it before we are forced to make such changes. Modest modifications can be done easily. Marked changes can hurt. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 9-17-06 [c331 wds]
|
