Back to index of "this and that in my life" pages by Donald Sauter.
Dedicated to the proposition that every thought that's ever been thunk may be of interest to some goofus . . .
THEE: collecting rent
I just read your "thoughts on Monopoly." Very interesting and a
couple of good rule changes.
This part, however, made me want to write:
> It's been pointed out to me a couple of times that the rules now
say, "The owner may not collect his rent if he fails to ask for
it before the second player following throws the dice." This is
what the 1973 rule-sheet says. Am I crazy, or has the rule been
changed? No one played like that when I was a kid. The rule-sheet
I found for an older British Monopoly game clearly states that
the landlord has only until the next player rolls. In any case,
the new rule is only a slight improvement, is not elegant, and is
still not realistic.
The original 1933 rules state: "LANDING ON OWNED PROPERTY the
owner collects his rent in accordance to the list printed on the
TITLE CARD. If the property is MORTGAGED no rent can be
collected. If the owner fails to ask for his rent before the dice
change hands twice, the debt is uncollectable. " (See
http://www.adena.com/adena/mo/mo26.htm)
It has been that way since the beginning.
Cheers!
THEE: question from a j.h. teacher
I was visiting your site b/c a student of mine brought in the
video, "Yellow Submarine". We are looking at the Beatles right
now as: poetry, civil rights, revolution, etc... b/c we are
reading the great novel, ANIMAL FARM. Beware of tyrants! I am
old enough to understand some of the symbolism of the video, but
do you have any idea where I can get my hands on info. regarding
the various symbolisms the creator was intending? There were
some faces in the video who I know are significant, and I don't
know who they would have been. I didn't know the Beatles didn't
have much to do with the production. That's interesting. SAD
too. IF you can assist me in a greater understanding of this
vid, let me know. THANKS for your site!
THEE: rare piece?
Gaspar Sanz is one of my favorites, however i am not able to
find one of his compositions i played years ago and lost the
score, anywhere i've looked, for two days in a row through so
many web pages and no one has any idea about it, maybe you do, i
would appreciate if you could help. The name of that piece is
"Corranda" , someone suggested this was the wrong name rather it
was "Espanola 2" but the score i had said "Corranda". What do
you think? Thanks
ME: re: rare piece?
The title Corranda is not at all familiar. Do you remember how
it started, or any extract from the tune?
THEE: piano-guitar
Hi Donald, I'm from Quibec, Canada and I'm studying at music
departement of Le Collhge de Sherbrooke and I would like to start
a classical guitar-piano duet. The problem is to find something
to play. We already had a little book but I was searching for
compositers repertory. I don't know if you would like to email
me some of the parts you said you had but don't want to put it on
the site. That would be so helpful. I hope you'll accept this
demand and I thank you right now.
p.s. maybe you can find that english is my second language.
THEE: Re: Kaufmann index
I was so pleased to hear back from you! One never knows, when
one sends a message into the ether, whether anybody is out there.
After reading Kauffmann's "Little Red Book," I purchased two more
books of the genre, Bach, Beethoven and the Boys, by David W.
Barber, and The Book of Musical Anecdotes, by Norman Lebrecht.
Thanks for introducing me to the fun, though possibly in some
respects apocryphal, world of musical anecdotes!
Continue having fun, as you obviously do. Oh, one word of
advice: it is better not hunt down "Tonight We Love," or you will
never enjoy Tchaikovsky again.
On Sat, 26 Jan 2002 iz710@detroit.freenet.org (Donald Sauter)
wrote:
>A very belated and a very big thanks for your note about Helen
Kaufmann's Little Book of Music Anecdotes. I had wanted to
reply, but thought I had accidentally clobbered your message
with a bunch of others. Well today I found a copy I had
forwarded to another account! That thrills me to pieces that a)
you were inspired to find a copy of the book and b) you felt a
need for the index I made. Also, thanks for answering *my*
question about Tchaikovsky's pop hit. You were the first one.
I will be on the lookout for "Tonight We Love". This is what
the internet is all about! Thanks again. (By the way, I'm no
spring chicken - will hit ?? this year.)
THEE: Who's a millionaire?
It was great to watch "Big Beat Box" with you.
It took me until the following morning to realize that the "she's
a millionaire" bit is on Capitol's "The Beatles Story." I
haven't confirmed that yet, but I'm fairly certain that's where
it is.
Here's the leads item from today's addition to the DVD Journal, a
web site I read every day:
On the Block: Our latest round of DVD auction rankings at eBay is
in, and it appears some people have totally abandoned all hope of
a new Hard Day's Night disc from Miramax ? how else can we
explain the incredible $305.00 close for the long-out-of-print
MPI edition?
Subject: Re: Who's a millionaire?
Thanks for hosting another good visit. They go so fast. Dinna
have time to play my latest 78 rpm acquisition for you - "We're
Gonna Hit, Hit, Hit, Hit Hitler." Still also need to rampage
through some Vex dex. Did I mentioned we played the simplest
version up in Baltimore on Sunday? (Why do I ask? I know I
didn't.)
Yes, I remembered the "millionaire" comment was on The Beatles'
Story. Dinna know you were groping for the cv (commercial
version).
As fully expected, your cd fired up without a hitch. Only
problem was an extra, outer groove track of some sort of noise or
interference that sounds (you won't believe this) like a dog
barking. Crazy, I know.
Donald (my first ever email-from-work. Welcome to the human
race, kid.)
THEE: You could probably buy a couple
I only have one question: Who's Dinna?
Heh!
Man, we did forget the Vex biz. We'll get to it. How about next
week? Let's contemplate this.
Was there a secret bonus track at the end of your CD? How could
that happen? You say it was a dog barking? Hmmm. Reminds me of
the old Hungarian folk legend.
A man asks a shepherd, "What kind of a dog is that?"
"That's not a dog," says the shepherd. "That's a puli!"
It is a puli barking. It's not my puli, but I'm working on that.
It's amazing what you can find on the web. (I found it on a
puli-tribute web site. There are such things.)
Your 78 sounds like a must-hear!
I just received a new computer here at work. I'm not sure how to
exploit it for personal use yet, but I'll figure it out soon
enough.
ME: yellow sub
I don't recall ever reading anything about the symbolisms in the
Yellow Submarine movie, or about the identification of the faces
used. About the best I can do is suggest you try to track down
Baltimore radio show host Bob Hieronimus. The Baltimore Sun (Sep
26 1999) claims he "knows more about Yellow Submarine than almost
anybody." The article said he was on the verge of having his
book on the movie published. His book is called (was to be
called) "It Was All In The Mind: The Co-Creation of the Beatles'
Yellow Submarine." Hope that helps.
THEE: Enjoyed your web site, have bookmarked it and plan on coming
back.
A question: My wife gave me a guitar (classical) for Christmas
and now I have to back up the claim that "I have always wanted to
learn to play the guitar". I went to a local musical store, and
contracted for lessons - I have had three. At each lesson, the
instructor seemed more concerned with showing me his prowess with
a guitar than with trying to find out how far I had progressed
since the last lesson. I have quit lessons. As far as I know,
there are no more classical guitar instructors in the area (have
you ever heard of Lexington Park, MD?) so I am looking for a
book, web site or person to push me in the right direction.
And I TOTALLY agree with you assessment of our legal system.
ME: Thanks for stopping by my site. I don't think I have much to
say about guitar lessons that would be helpful. I learned from
books, but I wouldn't suggest that approach to anybody. What
kept me going was the fun of playing everything I could get my
hands on - and that I *would* recommend to everyone. That, in
combination with even an average teacher, or intermittant
lessons, might yield really good results, I think. I'm sure one
of the best, if not the best, teacher in the D.C. area is...
Good luck with whatever approach you take. The guitar's worth
it. If you write back, give me your address and I'll send you
the next Washington Guitar Society newsletter. I'm putting a
nice piece of music in it.
THEE: RE: Your web site ... and other things
Curious... you learned from books - why do you recommend that no
one else do that? Thanks again...
THEE: Re: John Paul George Ringo and Bert
I am a director in a small local theatre who produce high
quality amateur theatre. We have won awards in the past for our
Willy Russell plays and I am very interested in reading a copy
of John, Paul, George etc. Do you have any idea where I could
get one form as I can't find it in any listings in the U.K?
Thanks a lot. Excellent review by the way.
ME: I don't have any connection to a copy of the play itself. I
suppose you've thought of contacting the theater department of
the University of Maryland at Baltimore County (UMBC)? I know I
mentioned somewhere in my write-up that the director himself had
a hard time getting his copy, and it was in a rough form. If
UMBC says they don't have it, maybe you could work from their
video of it. (I know I returned it, so if they've lost it, it
wasn't me!) Good luck. By the way, how about writing out the
vulgarity and make it a family show?
THEE: saw your evo faq
I scanned your FAQ, didn't have that much time to go over the
whole thing in detail, but I got a sense that it seemed like you
tried to justify many of your arguments against evolution by
pointing to the holes in the fossil record. It might help to
devote more thought to the process of fossilization, because it
is not exactly one that guarantees that every creature that dies
becomes preserved so that humanity has the opportunity to study
it later. It should not be at all surprising that the fossil
record does not contain a complete synopsis of every single
organism that ever lived, complete with the generation-by-
generation steps you're looking for. For that last, look forward
to the day when scientists have complete DNA mappings of every
living organism, plus whatever they can get from extinct species.
If it happens before you die, you might have a solid answer.
Until then, keep looking, just don't skip the basics. If you
haven't already, start from scratch, don't just read author's
refutations of one another's theories. A passionate, inquiring
mind such as yours deserves a more objective, comprehensive
knowledge of such a complex field of study. I admire your
apparent propensity towards critical thinking. Its value is ten
times that of unquestioning, blind faith. The difference between
deductive and inductive reasoning is the difference between an
agnostic physicist and a Mormon bishop!
ME: Re: saw your evo faq
Thanks for visiting my site, and thanks for your thoughts.
>I scanned your FAQ, didn't have that much time to go over the
whole thing in detail, but I got a sense that it seemed like you
tried to justify many of your arguments against evolution by
pointing to the holes in the fossil record.
I don't think that makes up a significant part of what I have to
say. I'm leaving that to others to discuss how complete our
fossil record is, and how well it demonstrates continuous change.
Based on everything I've read (in books and in discussion groups)
I'm led to believe that the fossil record hardly shows any
transition whatever. Without trying to be antagonistic, this has
to put "smooth transition" evolutionists on the hot seat. It
does no good to say, "Smooth transition evolution is true,
because if there were fossils of all the transitions, it would
prove it."
If there is anything that I have to offer to the discussion which
*may* be somewhat new, it is my challenge to describe some
transition in generation by generation steps. Forget the why and
how for now - forget DNA, even - just describe the members of
each generation. Of course, there is the possibility that on
some subconscious level I won't allow my brain to accept a good
answer as having any validity. Still, trying to be as honest
with myself as possible, I do not believe anybody anywhere has
seriously taken up the challenge. Nobody in the discussion group
did, and nobody cited a reference.
>lived, complete with the generation-by-generation steps you're
looking for. For that last, look forward to the day when
scientists have complete DNA
ME: Re: saw your evo faq
I had to send that last email off in a rush because I was about
to get logged off. Sorry for not having a chance to clean up all
the old material. Didn't want you to think I'm an email slob.
THEE: Hi Nice site! Can you please add Eric Hansen to your
wonderful links? I think it would fit in well under guitar. His
site is www.nuevo-flamenco.com , Eric Hansen is a World-flamenco
guitarist from South Florida. His influences include Paco de
Lucia and Vincente Amigo. He has an album called "Nuevo Flamenco
Romancero" that is due out March 26, 2002 Thanks.
THEE: Your MSPAP article is the most interesting that I have
read. While I am not sure if I have signed away my right to
concurrently hold an opinion and a job, I am happy to see a
little uproar over this test. I am interested in the validity of
the test, and I mean validity in the official sense of the word
as used by test makers. MSPAP is unexplored territory in the
world of tests, and it is completely in opposition to every
measure of validity that standardized test makers strive to
maintain. The classrooms, teachers, kids, parents, administration
and media spin wildly around compared "data" collected from
apples and oranges. I believe that the test has a positive effect
of focusing instruction, but the downside is that the life has
been sucked out of most classrooms in Maryland.
THEE: When I read your webpage, I got really excited. I, too,
came up with the idea of tired light and then found it had
already been pondered. Forgive me if you have this elsewhere on
the site, I am just so excited to read from a like mind that I
have to share....
Philosophers have said that if the universe was infinite, the
entire sky would be lit up, but because of the red shift, we know
this isn't true. What if the background radiation was just
really red shifted light from distant stars???
Also- what if it is the gravitational pull of dark matter that
makes light tired?? According to science, dark matter could make
up more than 90% of the matter in the universe.
If you haven't already heard of Halton Arp, look him up! He
has pointed out cases where there are two galaxies apparently
close to each other with very different red shifts (how does the
big bang explain that?)
I also wanted to compliment you on the idea that we would be
expanding too. I never thought of that before!!
Good luck on the whole thing. If you get a really good
argument for or against tired light, please drop a line!
THEE: I have read your page on logical problems and found it very
interesting. I found you as a mastermind on logical thinking and
IQ for your solutions (compared to others you have mentioned)
have been very elegant. I found you as an excellent guide.
My parents and others (including myself) think I have good
intelligence and caliber for logic. But I don't know how to
stimulate it. I have read your web pages on problems of logic.
Though I could grasp how the solution might turn out to be, I
could go half way and not further. So, I would be glad if you can
take so much trouble as to guide me in developing logic by
showing me where I could find resources on the web, your personal
views on logic, IQ and developing it. I would be indebted to you
if you could show me the light of thinking.
ME: The review was great. Still don't know how your brain makes
all those connections, like comparing the celebrities' and the
Beatles' manner of handling dumb questions.
THEE: Thanks for the review feedback. I needed something to wrap
the review up with, so I went for the celebrity tie-in.
ME: I remembered something that could have made yeserday's email
a little more interesting. I made it up to the free book place
in Baltimore over the weekend and came away with a few nice
things. I got about 3 or 4 books for my mom dating from 1917 and
earlier. One was about a dog in the great war. Supposedly a
true story, although not one of the all time greats. "Army" got
a military burial is about all you need to know. Still, the book
has a really nice old look and feel to it. All proceeds from its
sales will go to pay for Red Cross dressings.
Also picked up a fairly new (1993) glossy book of opera stories.
Stumbled on a copy of the novel "Ragtime" which will catch me up
with the folks I've been finding goodies for at the Library of
Congress.
Had some great days here at school recently. When a 5th grade
teacher is absent I take over a larger role in the class, in
math, specifically, *and* take the bull by the horns and pull
kids from the class to work with 2 at a time. This is what I was
hired to do, but the 5th grade teachers have been more than a
little resistant.
Also like the potted plants section of the review.
THEE: CD now, then, and in the future
I was trying to recall if I saw the military dog you mentioned in
a silent film about World War One, but I think that the movie I
saw, "The Lost Battalion" (1919), featured a famous carrier
pigeon. Yes, my beloved Internet Movie Database confirms that it
was the carrier pigeon Cher Ami, playing himself.
At the moment, I'm reading a biography of Conan Doyle, that has a
nice couple of paragraphs on the Boer War and the flap that
Doyle's "The War in South Africa" caused. You might like to look
it over next time you stop by.
I finished the last of the four Beatles MP3 CDs last night. My
feeling of liberation is indescribable.
THEE: Hi from Seabrook's SIRT
Hi Donald, I really enjoyed your long talk on MSAP. What can I
say.... I would like to hear you play the guitar. Bet I am the
only one at Seabrook who knows your secret - WEB page!!! I will
keep the information to myself. It will give me a smile
everytime I see you at school working so assiduously (sp?) at the
computer. You did spell "license" wrong I think on the page
about tags you liked. At least I think you did. I am a poor
speller. I was hunting for some information for a newsletter I
have to do on guess what... TIPS and strategies for MSPAP. Ugh.
Well it's my job and I have to create these newsletters for my
internship. Thanks for making my evening more fun in the midst
of drudgery.
THEE: Evolution FAQ - my thoughts
(Note: Anything in capital letters is not shouting, but done for
emphasis. Otherwise the text in all CAPS would be done in bold
face letters)
Saw your Evolution FAQ. (Actually, I read it about a year ago,
but still had it book marked for a while because it was
interesting to read.)
Like you, I'm not an expert at science. I've always been
interested in science and like discussing theory. Mostly, I like
reading material that challenges existing theories because that
is when things can get really interesting (i.e. a new way of
looking at the universe).
It never fails to amaze me that mainstream science believes that
they MUST be correct. Didn't they read history at all the failed
scientific theories (like Copernicus)? Guess they were too busy
proving how right they must be.
Anyway, it's been an interesting debate to read. I don't know
where I stand on the whole evolution thing. A large part of
HUMAN evolution sounds contrived, but science does make a few
good points.
Does evolution exist? I think so. Does it describe how humans
came to be? No.
Here's how I think evolution works....
Science keeps talking about SPONTANEOUS evolution. They seem to
assume that when someone is born, it is PREDETERMINED what they
will look like (for example: the second I'm born, I will be
exactly 5 feet 11 inches tall, have a 4 inch neck, etc...)
I believe the environment and circumstances impact us throughout
life, but mostly during the early development years. It is
during this stage of life that our bodies are determining what's
most useful to grow. My theory is that nature is a big
conglomeration of "Use or lose it!" scenarios.
If a short neck giraffe is STRETCHING his neck to reach the
leaves on the tree throughout his growth years, the body will
tend to develop and send more growth potential to the neck area.
In short (pun intended), the giraffe is USING his neck muscles to
get at the higher food, and as a result, is developing the length
of his neck.
Now there are limits to how much a given species can change in a
single generation, so I would think that significant changes
(like a 5 cm difference) would appear after a few generations.
Science does talk about mutations within a single generation, but
I believe the odds of a GOOD, BENEFICIAL mutation occurring are
the same if I won the lottery and got hit by a falling plane at
the same time. (Unless there is some sort of latent control over
our genetic structure that sometimes get accidentally accessed
somehow - but this is WAY out there)
Now to answer your next question about the "near zero" effect.
The assumption by scientists (or you) seems to be that a random
mutation of a long neck giraffe would produce ONE and only ONE
giraffe. If this is what science is assuming, then your argument
about "near zero" wins out.
BUT, I think that assumption is wrong. Let me paint out a better
scenario. Let's say there are 100 BABY giraffes and two sections
of the forest. One side of the forest has LOW branches, and the
other side has HIGH branches. Since each side can only support
50 giraffes, the group splits up into two sides.
The giraffes eating from the trees with low branches have no need
to stretch their necks, therefore nothing happens to the length
of their necks.
Conversely, the giraffes eating from the high branches are ALL
stretching their necks all the time to eat the food. The end
result is 50 giraffes with potentially longer/stronger necks.
Now since most species are somewhat social (and tend to breed
with other animals that are close to them), you will have 50
longer neck giraffes breed with each other. Not ONE. Thus, you
start building and re-enforcing the long neck tendency, while at
the same time have a group of short neck giraffes.
Let's take it a step further, and imagine a disaster that
devastates the forest. Both groups of giraffes go off in search
of new food. They find a new forest, but it only has high
branches. As a result the short neck giraffes will die off
because they cannot evolve/adapt that quickly (within one
generation) to reach the high branches, and thus starve to death.
Let's take a slightly different scenario. Imagine the same
disaster, but the giraffes relocate to a different forest which
has low branches. Because there is no need for the BABIES to
stretch their necks to reach tall leaves, they may not grow up to
have long necks like there parents. Therefore, they will
gradually lose their long necks (over a period of generations)
because they don't have to stretch their necks to reach the
leaves.
Let's take a third (and last) scenario. The same giraffes move
to another forest where the food is sparse. The short neck
giraffes may survive because they don't need as much food to
live, where as the bigger giraffes would require more food to
sustain themselves. Thus, the long neck giraffes may die off
within a single generation because of their larger bodies (so
much for having a longer neck being described as an advantage!)
(Hope you don't find these scenarios to be too much of a
"stretch")
Ultimately, I believe everything in nature is like a muscle.
People who use their brains get smarter, while those who watch
only TV get dumber. People who exercise get stronger (and grow
more muscle), while people who are muscular (and started watching
TV all the time) will lose their muscles.
Here's another people example. Have you ever visited the
mountains? At first, when you go two miles up, you will find
that you get out of breath quicker when you exert yourself. If
you stay in the mountains for a few months, your lungs will
expand in size, to allow more oxygen to get into your system.
Would I call this change in my body evolution? I don't think so.
"Adaptability" sounds more like a more accurate term to describe
this.
Perhaps evolution means the CUMULATIVE effect of adaptive changes
over many generations? I think most people tend to think that to
evolve, is to become superior. I think evolution changes the
individual to whatever circumstances require. Thus, I don't
think tall people necessarily have an advantage over short
people, especially if there is a food shortage!
Of course for all of this to work, it has to be proved that a
person's/animal's genetic structure will change in small ways
over the course of a SINGLE lifetime. IF you had a hypothetical
scanner that could see every single point on your DNA at birth,
and compare it to the DNA in your body when you're ready to
conceive a child, I'm willing to bet that there will be SUBTLE
differences in the genetic structure (lung size, muscle content,
neck length, etc...).
I base this on the fact that males always produce NEW sperm all
the time, copying their CURRENT genetic structure into it.
Females, in contrast, have all their genetic material copied into
the eggs in one shot. Thus, if a male contracts cancer, his
cancer-ridden DNA will be copied into the sperm. If a cancer-
ridden male decides to conceive a child, he risks fathering a
child with cancer.
Closing thoughts ---------------- So this is my take on how
things are with nature. As I said/implied before, science is a
hobby, and I don't have the patience to wade through complex
scientific journals, so I don't know if my assumption about DNA
mutating through a single lifetime has been proven yet.
It STILL doesn't answer how man got here. Speech and a highly
evolved brain doesn't fit into the model I described because it
shows nature OVERCOMPENSATING what we need (in other words, why
is so much of our brain left unused?). This is a topic for other
discussion, and I don't have any solid (coherent?) answers for
that.
I'm pretty open minded on these things, and I'm not bound by
religious or scientific views. :) Feel free to share your
thoughts on this, although judging by your web site, this doesn't
appear to be a problem! :)
ME: things for newsletter
A million thanks again for leading the guitar orchestra. As far
as I'm concerned, the guitar doesn't get any more fun than that.
There's been a little trouble nailing down the next 3 meetins,
but I'm assuming the April 19 meeting will be another guitar
orchestra at the community center.
I've heard Hself won't be able to help with this newsletter. I was
wondering if, rather than find someone to take over his part for
this issue, would it be easiest just to crank one out together on
your computer, like in the old days.
THEE: I'm going to do this one on my computer. I'm very limited
on time, so if you want to proof it before I print, I could mail
or fax you a copy. Formatting will likely be messed up if I send
you a file.
I hope to get it done by this weekend.
PS I enjoyed the guitar ensemble as well.
ME: newsletter
I'm sure you're as busy as always, and it probably sounds like an
extra hand would slow things down, but it seems like there are a
few reasons for at least a surgical strike from me. One is that
you need the sample system from the Tango piece. It'd be hard to
get that to you by mail by tomorrow. I also have a page of music
that has to meet up with the other pages somehow. Also I could
take it off your hands for printing up. I'm free tomorrow
morning and afternoon. Does that work? Best to use phone at this
point.
THEE: free space submission: boycott mspap
Your new essay has been posted.
webmaster@sailor.lib.md.us ("webmaster")
THEE: Subject: pinching
How excited did you get about your best discovery? I've been
pinching myself since I went to the mailbox around 3:00. Even
now, I'm not convinced this is real . . .
THEE: Subject: Foul ground ball.
For grounders that go foul before reaching 1st or 3rd base,
there's no problem. They're foul. Not if they go back into the
infield before they reach first or third base.
ME: Subject: web woes
Once upon a time there was this amazing used book and record sale
at some place called Stoney Ridge or Rocky Point or Stone Ridge
or Rocky Ridge or Rocky Road... I think it was across from that
medical place, whatsitcalled...
Guess what I spotted - Miss November 1955 holding an opera
record! This was in a small, demure b&w, not the big, demure 3-
pager.
I also found a classical guitar album review which will make its
way into the next WGS newsletter, I'm guessing. It has a nice
local tie-in being by Charles Byrd on Washington Records.
I forgot to ask, did you send any emails a few weeks ago that
bounced back? There was trouble here at detroit, so I used their
mail forwarding to my hotmail account, but nothing ever showed up
there. [I had a hotmail account once???]
Just got a notice from yahoo today that they, too, will start
charging for mail forwarding. This wrecks my plans to become
donaldsauter@yahoo.com to the internet world forever.
So far, my laptop/Windows 95/Internet Explorer system for getting
on the web is an exercise in torture. For instance, the
washington post site will crash it every time. [I had a laptop
back then???]
On the morning of March 20, WGMS had a contest question: "On
this day in 1969 John and Yoko got married - 9 days after Paul
and Linda, in fact. Where did John and Yoko get married? Hint -
it was very British." A friend of mine heard this at work, but
couldn't make time to call me. She said that even a half hour or
more later, people were still calling in with wrong guesses.
Whaddaya think, could the web answer that one?
THEE: Subject: Not in Bloomington
Soon after I sent my last message to you, I realized that I'd
stupidly missed your reference to Stone Ridge School of the
Sacred Heart. Says right here on the World Wide Web that this
year's sale will be April 19-22
(http://www.stoneridge.org/general/BookSale.htm).
Speaking of things WWW, I can't recall getting any messages back
from you a few weeks ago. I'll even go out on a limb and say,
no, there were no messages bounced back.
I just finished a fascinating book called "The Story of the 'Mary
Celeste'," which offered a thorough investigation of the famous
1872 incident. Heard of it? In the Atlantic, between the Azores
and Portugal, a British ship came upon a U.S. ship, the Mary
Celeste, abandoned but in adequate sailing shape. What became of
the crew? We won't learn that on the day that the sea gives up
her dead, I guess. Anyway, the Mary Celeste was out from New
York and bound for Genoa. Three guys from the British ship
instead sailed it to what port? Clue: The Mary Celeste was no
longer there when John and Yoko got married there.
THEE: Subject: Back in Touch
I got your guitar society newsletter a few weeks back and I
wanted to say hello and thank you. It's great to keep up with all
your doings - do you know you have a whole page of links if you
search for your name under Google?
No guitar in my life, except what you send me. Every now and then
I get tempted to pick it up but then I realize I don't Have TIME!
I'm usually running around like a mad woman. However, I went to
hear the Berlioz Requiem at the Kennedy Center today. It was
fabulous. Very loud. But very good. Have you ever heard it?
ME: About your missed autograph opportunity, I had one, too,
lately. (Dumb sentence.) A Tuesday or two ago, I went to a
concert at the U of Md. featuring two performers, one of whom was
Carmen Balthrop who sang the lead role in what is still the only
recording of Jopin's Treemonisha (mid-'70s). It was a very
informal, chatty sort of recital, and I was kicking myself for
not bringing my album long before Carmen sang the Slow Drag, the
grand finale from the opera, for us.
I went online tonight to find the libretto (book?) to Victor
Herbert's Naughty Marietta. That's one I bought from Saturday's
sale (2 bits), but in spite of a 24-page booklet, there's no
libretto. Couldn't find one online, which is par for me in
general, and par for me and online libretti.
It came back to me that I had clipped that half-page-plus from
the Times on Lincoln, and put it in my folder of discussion
material labeled "Hself". We'll get around to it, I guess.
I bought a folding table ("banquet table") today for expanding my
record storage. I had called the manufacturer this morning to
finally find out how much weight those things can hold. My
calculations say that I'm safe if I don't stuff my bins (boxes.)
THEE: Subject: Abe rules!
I'm glad you appreciate Honest Abe. He's my fave.
I'm sure I told you that I got through the Illinois Bar in
Springfield by visiting Lincoln sites during every break. It
helped a lot.
I'm completely blanking on Stoney/Rocky/Ridge/Point.
Tonight, VH1 is showing highlights from Monday's Rock 'n' Roll
Hall of Fame induction ceremony (9-11:30 p.m.). Although New
Wave got all the press--it's 25 years since 1977, after all--
Brenda Lee was also inducted. I'm videotaping and we'll have to
check it out.
I was reading an article about copyright yesterday. In general,
I always say "75 years--the End." I'd overlooked Congressman
Salvatore "Sonny" Bono's major contribution to our nation's
jurisprudence--he got it changed to 95 years several years ago.
This change is now being challenged in the Supreme Court by a
group of public-domain publishers, who were all set to publish
works from the '20s before the law was changed.
Ever heard of Florence Foster Jenkins?
Check out http://www.counterpoint-music.com/specialties/ffj.html
and click on "full story" toward the bottom.
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Parents, if you're considering tutoring or supplemental education for your child, you may be interested in my observations on Kumon.