Roger O Green

Monday Morning Meme on Sunday Stealing

math is everywhere

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

Maria called these questions “The Monday Morning Meme.” Unfortunately she didn’t link back and I couldn’t find the original blog that posted it. OK, I admit I didn’t try very hard, but still I found the questions and am sharing them with you. That counts for something, right?

Monday Morning Meme

1. What was the last thing you laughed at?

It almost certainly was some sort of wordplay, possibly my own. I’ve been known to crack myself up. I’m an easy audience. My wife was doing a Spelling Bee on Friday (Halloween), and looking at the letters upside down, I found the pangram WITCHING, which amused me.

Maybe it was this picture from Jeff Lefferts of the King Crimson Fan Club, done by one of his friends; it helps if you know the original.

There have been “bits” of comedians that cracked me up the first several dozen times, but I’ve seen/heard them too often: Jack Benny, Abbott and Costello, probably many others. But I still appreciate this bit from The Life of Brian, though it’s funnier in context.

2. Who among your friends/family “gets” your sense of humor?

My friend Bruce and I can banter about almost anything. Numbers are usually involved because, as he says, math is everywhere, and it is. I should note that my wife has slowly picked up on some of the play on words that I’m prone to using.

3. What jewelry are you wearing at this moment?

I was never a jewelry guy. When I was offered the option of getting a high school class ring, I declined. The only item I have is my wedding ring.

No schmuck zone

4. If you could offer one bit of etiquette that everyone should follow while dining out, what would it be?

Patience. At least some food establishments are understaffed, especially in the past half-decade. Screaming at the waitstaff makes you an ass; if you do it in my presence, I will be mortified with embarrassment. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t comment to them about the slow service or a wrong order. But don’t be a schmuck. That seems to be good advice for most situations.

5. What’s the first thing a guest would notice when they walk through your front door?

The coat rack is unsteadily leaning against the wall, filled with shopping bags.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

Hot R&B #1 Singles for 1995

sampling Marvin Gaye

Here are the Hot R&B #1 Singles for 1995 from the Billboard charts.

One More Chance/Stay With Me – The Notorious B.I.G., nine weeks at #1 RB, #2 for three weeks pop. Christopher George Latore Wallace, a/k/a Biggie Smalls. The hit is from his 1994 debut album, Ready To Die. Brittanica notes that he “was among the most influential artists of 1990s gangsta rap.” He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020. “On March 9, 1997, Wallace was leaving a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles when he was killed in a drive-by shooting. The shooter and the motive remained unknown.”

Exhale (Shoop Shoop) – Whitney Houston, eight weeks at #1 RB, also #1 pop. Died in 2012.

This Is How We Do It – Montell Jordan, seven weeks at # RB, also #1 pop

Fantasy – Mariah Carey, six weeks at #1 RB, also #1 pop

MJ

You Are Not Alone – Michael Jackson, four weeks at #1 RB, also #1 pop. Died in 2009. About a decade after that, I posted a piece in response to the question, “Are we under any obligation to erase performers or songs we once liked because it later turns out that they were either allegedly or actually terrible humans or allegedly or actually did terrible things?” I’m still ambivalent about it.

Baby – Brandy, four weeks at #1 RB, #4 RB, platinum

Candy Rain – Soul for Real, three weeks at #1 RB, #2 for four weeks RB, gold

I’ll Be There For You/You’re All I Need To Get By – Method Man featuring Mary J Blige, three weeks at #1 RB, #3 pop. The latter song was a 1968 hit by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, #1 RB for five weeks, #7 pop.

Don’t Take It Personal (just one of dem days) – Monica, two weeks at #1 RB, #2 for three weeks pop, platinum. Samples Back Seat (Of My Jeep) by LL Cool J

These are the number ones for only one week, RB.

Boombastic– Shaggy, #3 for two weeks pop, platinum. Samples Baby Let Me Kiss You by King Floyd. A remix also samples Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On.

Who Can I Run To? – Xscape, #8 pop, gold

You Remind Me Of Something – R. Kelly, #4 pop, platinum

Area codes as geography

Ruben Studdard

I am irrationally fascinated by area codes as a geography. I’ve been obsessed with them for a long time. Indeed, I would look in the front of the phone book every year when it arrived to see if there were new area codes, generally by splitting an existing code. (But then, who didn’t read the front pages of phone books?)

I wrote in 2009: “When I was a kid, I could tell you just what a legitimate area code looked like. The first digit was 2 to 9 (but not 1), and the next two were 01 to 09 or 12 to 19.” This was primarily dictated by some technological limitations I had read about, but My Eyes Glazed Over. This problem was resolved, obviously.

When I worked for the New York State Small Business Development Center, and our Research Network was providing library services for all SBDCs nationwide, I remember getting a call from Cleveland, TN. The area code was 423. 423? It must have been 1995 or later when it was created from a split of area code 615.

I attended college in New Paltz, NY, in the 1970s, with area code 914. Area code 845 was created in 2000, and everything except Westchester County changed to that. It was a pain for businesses in the 845, who had to change their business cards, signage, etc.

American Idol

Oh, a Final JEOPARDY from 10/21/2025! “When area codes were introduced, three very populous areas got the ones quickest to dial: these 3 codes”—correct responses at the end.

Back in 2002/2003, my wife and I were watching the second season of American Idol. The eventual winner, Ruben Studdard, was noted for his shirts printed with ‘205,’ the telephone area code of his hometown of Birmingham, AL. We didn’t know then about Area Codes and Their Impact on Hip-Hop Culture.

With the increase in the number of cellphones, a person’s phone number was no longer where they were in the moment but rather where they grew up. (I noticed this in my last job with people with 203 and 480 area codes from their family plans.)

More parts of a state have area code overlays. Yes, one has to dial ten digits instead of seven, but with cell phones, most people don’t have to dial anything; they just punch in the name. (I remember my friends’ phone numbers from growing up, but not my daughter’s cellphone today.)

Because of more phones, the old-school codes have a specific cache. Houston, after all, is the 713, not the 832 or the 346.

The 212 is a bit murky. The New York Times site is “revisiting New York institutions that have helped define the city, from time-honored restaurants to unsung dives,” that is, the whole city. But Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island were split into 718 so long ago, 1984, that the “newer” area code has its own following.

My town

We live in The 518. When you tell people outside of the Northeast that you live in upstate New York (whatever that means), most of them hear New York City. The 518, while physically vast, is more descriptive.

Moreover, as my daughter observed, if you were from Mechanicsville, a small city in Saratoga County, part of the state’s Capital District, you could define yourself as from The 518, which gives some information but not too much.

She recommended the 1990s group 702, who were, I guessed correctly, from Las Vegas.

Answers from JEOPARDY: What are 212, 213, and 312? I knew these were for New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, respectively, if only because they were the three largest cities. (None of the contestants got it correct.) Eek, I KNEW this.

October rambling: wrackful

A Whole Lotta Fibbin’ Going On

WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 23: An excavator works to clear rubble after the East Wing of the White House was demolished on October 23, 2025 in Washington, DC. The demolition is part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to build a multimillion-dollar ballroom on the eastern side of the White House. (Photo by Eric Lee/Getty Images)

Wrackful. Meaning – adjective: Ruinous. In Sonnet 65, Shakespeare laments time’s “the wrackful siege of battering days.” You can almost hear the timbers groan and the sigh of loss.

AWS outage spotlights the global economy’s fragile foundations

The AI that we’ll have after AI

How a Fringe Movement of Gun Nuts, Backwoodsmen, and Free Marketers Paved the Way for Autocracy

American e-waste is causing a ‘hidden tsunami’ of junk in Southeast Asia

The World Is Running Out of Fresh Water. What Happens If We Do? The pace of freshwater depletion is staggering. An area twice the size of California is drying up annually.

Does Brazil have an app that can upend digital finance?

One of 20 Million in the US With Long COVID. RFK Pulled the Rug From Under Us.

Americans remain pessimistic about the country’s direction and the state of the country.

Why So Many Gen Z-ers Are Drawn to Conservative Christianity

A Whole Lotta Fibbin’ Going On

The Big Budget Act Creates a “Deportation-Industrial Complex” —The result will be a lopsided, enforcement-only machine that will be hard to dismantle.

“Divisive”? (BHO)

The shrinking future of Ph. D.s

Medicare Advantage: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Response

The Resistance Stiffens and “No Kings” — Loving America

Labor Unions, EFF Sue Administration to Stop Ideological Surveillance of Free Speech Online

John Dickerson: What Hamilton warned in the Federalist Papers #1

June Lockhart obituary: American stage and screen actor who enjoyed huge success on the television shows Lassie, Lost in Space, and Petticoat Junction.

Baseball Obituary: Mike Greenwell (1963-2025)

The Jewish Prisoners Who Escaped From a Nazi Death Camp

Ernest Shackleton’s journey was most likely doomed before it began

Why Paris Designed Its Peculiarly Popular Grand Graveyards to Evoke a Celebration of Life Amid All the Death

In honor of the 200th anniversary of the completion of the Erie Canal, History of the canal system of the State of New York together with brief histories of the canals of the United States and Canada / by Noble E. Whitford v.1 (1906)

These Airport Codes Make No Sense

Now I Know: Where the Other Two Musketeers Went and Hackers, Pre-Internet Edition and The $10,000 Blade of Grass (Dali and Ono) and The “Baseball versus Beer” Loophole and Our Anti-Photographic Memories?

The dog that was twenty times smarter than Lassie

Wrecking crew

The East Wing of the White House has been demolished. Here’s a look at its history

Demolition Seen as Potent Metaphor for His Destructive Presidency

Daily Kos: “Normal people looked at the demolition… and asked, ‘Hey, shouldn’t an official body, like the National Capital Planning Commission, have to sign off on the demolition?’

“No, you sweet summer child. According to him and his allies on the NCPC, the planning commission need only sign off on the construction of buildings, not their demolition.

“What kind of person who heads a planning commission charged with the overall planning of the nation’s capital would agree to this?

“Oh, that would be Will Scharf. Scharf is the White House staff secretary, and he is also now the head of the NCPC. Does Scharf have any experience in urban planning or architecture, or anything really?

“Nope. You all get one guess as to why Scharf has not one, but two high-level government jobs? Yes, he was one of his former criminal defense attorneys.”

Borowitz: FOTUS “would continue his father’s proud tradition of gleeful destruction [Steeplechase Park] when he demolished the Bonwit Teller Building on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue to clear the site for his Tower. After saying he’d try to preserve the building’s priceless Art Deco friezes so that they could be exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he discovered that it would cost $32,000 to remove them intact. As a clever solution to his problem, he had his workmen smash them to bits.”

MUSIC

Take Me Down To Stewy’s – Jackson Simpson (feat. Azel & Grey Mizzy), a tribute to the many Stewart’s Shops, a chain of convenience stores located in Upstate New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

Last Time (I Seen the Sun) – Alice Smith and Miles Caton

That Thing You Do! – The Wonders

I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow – The Soggy Bottom Boys with Dan Tyminski

La Academia – Peter Sprague

Piano Sonata no. 14 in C-sharp minor, Moonlight, by Ludwig van Beethoven

That Song In Every Musical That No One Likes – Sarah Smallwood Parsons

While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Take 27) – The Beatles [Anthology 2025]

Bonehemian Rhapsody– 28-Trombone collaboration

Coverville 1553: The Bruno Mars Cover Story and 1554: The Tom Petty Cover Story V

New Moon in the Old Moon’s Arms by Michael Kamen

Over, Under, Sideways, Down -The Yardbirds

How Lucky Can You Get -Jason Graae, the voice of the Leprechaun in the Lucky Charms commercials for several years

Take On Me– a-ha

You’ll Be Back (from Hamilton) – Primer (Barbershop Quartet)

Theme to Top Cat – Hoyt Curtin

On Your Shore -Enya

Theme from Jurassic Park – John Williams

Oh Sheila – Ready for the World

J. Eric Smith’s blog, Genre Delve #4: Gospel, with links to the intro, Jazz, and Africa

What Makes Surf Rock Sound Instantly Recognizable?

A specific dream

phooey

I had a very specific dream last Saturday night—actually, Sunday morning, after which I woke up about 4:20 a.m. And I know the genesis.

An old friend of mine, whom I have known since 1977, Facebook messaged me at 11:34 a.m. Saturday morning. They indicated that their significant other would be playing music at a block party only a mile or two away between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

I wrote back: “Phooey – if I had known earlier, I would have planned for it.” This is to say that I would have been showered and dressed; I had been in the midst of the cleaning project.

The dream: Someone had taken a reference question and explained to me what the person wanted to discover about selling paper products. They were undercapitalized and not generating enough income.

I went to an adjacent room and felt I needed to use the desk. (Why, I don’t know.) Somebody else already had items on their desk: pens, papers, and a folded-over coat. I didn’t want to mess up their desk, so I decided to get my phone and take a picture of the top of the desk so that I could take everything off and then put everything back. Just at that point, my phone died.

Analysis

This dream was almost certainly about that friend, who no longer lives in the immediate area. They were among the people who had nagged me to get my Master’s in Library Science. We even worked together briefly.

The paper products reference was about the items I’ve been dealing with, not very efficiently, in my office, things on top of things.

I sense it was a missed opportunity dream. Maybe I should have just thrown on some clothes and taken a bus or Uber to the location to see my friend. Sometimes, it’s difficult for me to spontaneously shift gears when my mind has mapped out the day.