Month: April 2018

April rambling: Silent Scream

It is brutal, damaging and untrue

Condolences to Dustbury on the loss of his brother James, his last sibling

Thousands of internal documents that help explain how the Islamic State stayed in power so long

The root of all cruelty?

Travel is fatal to prejudice

Why does the Right hate victims?

50 years after the Wahine Disaster (New Zealand)

Corruption, Not Russia, Is His Greatest Political Liability

His long-term effect on American democracy: How worried should we be?

The Crime-Fraud Exception in the Michael Cohen Case

What Will Our Society Look Like When Artificial Intelligence is Everywhere?

Ten Things That Have Zero Effect on What the Truth Is

Daniel Van Riper’s Albany Weblog: They Want To Fill In The Ravine In Lincoln Park

The Real Story of the Hawaiian Missile Crisis

The REAL Consumer Price Index?

Congress, Not Amazon, Messed Up the Post Office

the beautiful human gumbo

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF COLOUR

Steven Bochco, RIP; a retrospective – I loved many of these shows

Remembering Winnie Mandela

Living the beam onstage with William Shatner

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Oprah’s Full Chat from SUPER SOUL SUNDAY

From the nifty historical fiction Silent Scream #1
Kickstarter: THE TRUST BOOK ONE: SILENT SCREAM ISSUE 2 – Dennis Webster, Bill Anderson, Gabriel Rearte and Laurie E. Smith

Mark Waid tells a new Captain America story with original artwork from Jack Kirby!

Top 37 Parks To Visit Before You Die

After 40 years, Wendy and Richard Pini finish ‘Elfquest,’ the ‘first American manga,’ and go on fanquest

SNL: Black Jeopardy with Chadwick Boseman

Seth Meyers’ great “desk story”

A Weird and Beautiful Sports Story

150th anniversary of Little Women

vlogbrothers: On Punctuality (John) v. How to Stop Being Late Forever (Hank)

Now I Know: How Overdue Parking Tickets Took Over an Innocent Person’s Life and The Therapeutic Value of a Not-Quite-Flying Pig and The Race to Determine the Fastest Man Alive and Why You Can’t Steal First Base and Why You Shouldn’t Eat Those “Do Not Eat” Packets and The Elevator Light That’s a Total Gas

How he is transforming himself into the greatest president ever

MUSIC

Found Tonight – Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ben Platt

Listen to the Music – Playing for Change

Catch Me If You Can -John Williams score

She’s A Rockin’ Machine – Archie and the Bunkers

Coverville 1212: Cover Stories for Jimmy Cliff and Pharrell Williams

Oriental Rhapsody – Alexander Glazunov

Stephen Hawking Picks the Music (and One Novel) He’d Spend Eternity With: Stream the Playlist Online

‘The Weakness in Me’: Notes on Joan Armatrading

Can’t Take My Eyes Off You – Sonny Vande Putte

Never tell someone they can’t sing – it is brutal, damaging and untrue

Music throwback: Oscillations- Silver Apples

“In 1996, Simeon re-activated Silver Apples, recording and performing with many musician friends and admirers. “

When I was discussing our respective stacks of old LPs we had, a colleague of mine and I decided that most of our albums wouldn’t be worth very much, due to the items’ availability and/or condition.

I wondered, though, if there might be an oddball piece or two that would be more interesting to the collector. The second item I thought of was the eponymous first album by a group called Silver Apples.

From a history of the band:

“Formed in 1967 as an electronic rock duo featuring Dan Taylor on drums and Simeon [born Simeon Oliver Coxe III] on a homemade synthesizer consisting of 12 oscillators and an assortment of sound filters, telegraph keys, radio parts, lab gear and a variety of second hand electronic junk, the band quickly gained a reputation as New York’s leading underground musical expression.

“First full-length album was released in 1968 on KAPP Records. The self titled album rode the Billboard Magazine Top 100 list for 10 weeks.” Hmm, my Billboard book said it never got high than #193 and was in the Top 200 for a mere three weeks.

However, the album was legendary in some circles. I bought it in the early 1980s based on its reputation. It’s… interesting.

And at least a little valuable. The Discogs site has it going for $50 and up. Of course, that has never been why I purchase music.

The first song is Oscillations, which failed to chart, but is well-known in certain circles. Even though I hadn’t played the album in two decades, I could replicate, fairly accurately, the vocals from that first line:

“Oscillations, oscillations
Electronic evocations of sound’s reality

“In 1996, Simeon re-activated Silver Apples, recording and performing with many musician friends and admirers. On March 10, 2005, original drummer, Danny Taylor, passed away of a heart attack in Kingston, New York. He was 56 years old. Working as a solo performer, with Danny’s drum sounds recreated by electronic means, Simeon has continued the Silver Apples live concerts with performances literally all over the world.”

Listen to:

Oscillations
Silver Apples album

That Cambridge Analytica Facebook thing

I wouldn’t have known the niece was in Memphis for the MLK memorial without Facebook.

My wife has never been on Facebook. Occasionally, she had considered joining, as it would be a way for her to be part of interest groups with some of her teaching colleagues. In fact, I’m friends on the platform with some of her teaching buddies.

But she said, correctly, that she could not fit Facebook into her busy schedule. And indeed, it can be a time suck. Someone criticized me on FB recently for making some point then not arguing it to death. But, as Carly said, “I haven’t got time for the pain.”

Although it is true that I generally cannot just let an item with false information, posted by someone I know IRL, go unchallenged. Usually it’s about the death of someone who isn’t dead, or died a dozen years ago. Or something about autism and vaccines from a shady website I’ve never heard of.

My wife also worried about issues concerning privacy, VERY correctly, as it turns out. I mean, I wasn’t worried about sharing my views – hey, I have a daily blog – but even
Neil J. Rubenking of PC Magazine was surprised by things the social networking giant knew about him.

Still, the Cambridge Analytica data debacle led to changes in procedures. The problem for Mark Zuckerberg now is having to sit before the U.S. Congress and explain how 87 million Facebook users’ data got in the hands of a third party app, and whether there are other entities out there with similar data mined from them. He was slow to apologize, and only after stock prices started plunging.

I understand why more than a few people I know IRL have decided to abandon the platform over this. In my cost/benefit analysis, I still like reconnecting with old friends and remembering birthdays. For instance, I wouldn’t have known the niece was in Memphis for the MLK memorial without Facebook.

I’ve discovered people with common viewpoints, and more than a few with divergent ones, none of whom, BTW, I’ve convinced of anything.

The thing is that, yeah, something else could, and maybe should, rise up and replace Facebook. From 2007: Will MySpace ever lose its monopoly? (HT, Dan.) But it isn’t going to develop overnight.

I guess I’ll stick around on Facebook for now, even with the invitations for Candy Crush, et al. that I studiously avoid.

The small joys of life: a new dishwasher

That could NEVER have happened with the previous, clanky dishwasher.

We bought our current house in May 2000, about 51 weeks after we got married. But it took about 60 months before we could afford to buy a new dryer, refrigerator, stove, and dishwasher, no two in the same calendar year. All the kitchen appliances were by General Electric.

The washer is still fine. The stove is OK as long as you lie to it; if you want 350F, better to set it at 375F. The freezer door has not sealed entirely correctly since 2007, when I hit my head on it; to be fair, I didn’t expect someone to OPEN the freezer door while I was getting something from the main part of the refrigerator.

The new dishwasher, though, was how was a disappointment pretty much from the start. The biggest pain was the silverware section. It was attached to the appliance’s door, and one really couldn’t put in the knives, forks and spoons from that angle. One COULD remove the contraption, but it wouldn’t stand up on its own, so we had to wedge it between the kitchen faucet and the wall.

We would start to wash the dishes, but forget the silverware constantly, maybe a third of the time the first year. And one couldn’t put the knives in the back row of certain sections, because the rack then wouldn’t attach to the door.

Ultimately, though, the machine stopped working altogether. More correctly, it ceased cleaning the dishes well, and left water settled on the bottom of the appliance, which we had to suck up with a Shop Vac.

Then, for about a month, we gave up and started washing all the dishes by hand. This was fun at first – it was my primary task as a kid – but ultimately tedious. My wife and daughter went shopping and picked out a new dishwasher.

So I was overjoyed when the Bosch brand machine of dishwasher was installed. An hour a day regained for me! The only problem is that it’s SO quiet that I have inadvertently opened it while it was operating. That could NEVER have happened with the previous, clanky dishwasher.

And one of the best features – no, I have not been compensated for my kind words – is that top drawer you can see, I hope, where the large serving spoons and carving knives and spatulas can reside. It’s kind of cool.

I was having lunch with couple near-relatives recently, and we decided that we can tell we’re getting old when we write about our appliances and our lumbago.

National Muslim Soup Kitchen Days: volunteer April 28-29

The Muslim Soup Kitchen Project plans to serve and distribute over 1,000 meals in Albany, Schenectady, and Troy, NY.

The National Muslim Soup Kitchen (NMSK) Day is a time for people from all faiths and backgrounds to join their Muslim sisters and brothers in service to people in need. In addition to providing nourishing hot meals for fellow community members, it provides an opportunity to get to know people from a wide range of backgrounds, as well as make an important statement about standing, and serving alongside, with our Muslim friends and neighbors.

The Muslim Soup Kitchen Project, the organizer of this third annual NMSK Day in the Capital Region, plans to serve and distribute over 1,000 meals in Albany, Schenectady, and Troy, NY. There are many opportunities to help from food preparation on Saturday, April 28 to packaging, driving and serving on Sunday, April 29.

Please use the following links to find out more specifics, and to sign up to volunteer:

Cooking

Onsite

Driver

Night before

If you can, support NMSK Day through financial donations.

For additional information, please visit the Muslim Soup Kitchen Project website or on Facebook.

And please spread the word!

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