Author: Roger

I'm a librarian. I hear music, even when it's not being played. I used to work at a comic book store, and it still informs my life. I won once on JEOPARDY! - ditto.

#1 songs on my birthday, 1984-1993

I remember talking with my friend Fred Hembeck and we agreed that Straight Up, the one Paula Abdul song he ever put on a mixed CD, was probably her only good one.

mariah-carey-whitney-houstonMy friend Dan Van Riper sent me this list of all the #1 songs since August 4, 1958.

I have links only to the middle tune, the song of my birthday. You can go to the website and hear the other contenders. If I’ve heard it before, I won’t play it again. If I’ve never heard of it, I’ll play it once. But I won’t listen to the adjacent tunes. My goal: am I happy with THAT choice to celebrate my birthday? Or (as will be the case in the latter stages of the game), I have no idea?

2/4/84 Culture Club – Karma Chameleon
2/25/84 Van Halen – Jump
3/31/84 Kenny Loggins – Footloose

I own all three of these; this may be the last time that’s true. Footloose is fun, and I like the Boy George song, but this is probably my favorite Van Halen tune, certainly my favorite of their hits.

2/2/85 Foreigner – I Want To Know What Love Is
2/16/85 Wham! feat. George Michael – Careless Whisper
3/9/85 REO Speedwagon Can’t Fight This Feeling
Continue reading “#1 songs on my birthday, 1984-1993”

Correcting v. convincing

I jumped all over the presentation, calling it sham science, and pointing out the many ways in which it was confusing or obscuring the truth. Expecting to be met with nodding approval, I instead faced several annoyed looks and the strong feeling that I was being wished out of the room.

Arthur@AmeriNZ noted his seventh Twitterversary this spring, which he Tweeted then posted it to Facebook and Google+. How terribly meta.

Then Facebook went and spoiled it all when someone said something stupid.

It was no one I knew—a friend of a friend—but it was such utter delusional nonsense that my jaw literally (yes, literally) dropped (remaining literally attached to my head, fortunately). It doesn’t matter who said what to whom about what; suffice it to say, the person’’s comment was factually wrong, silly, and… delusional.

It was an outrage! Errors needed to be corrected, truth and facts needed to be asserted! So, I did — nothing.

Time was, I would have jumped in to fight for truth and facts, but not today. Continue reading “Correcting v. convincing”

Respectful political discussion on Facebook

How does one know if those things – racism, sexism – are getting better or worse?

fightYes, you read that correctly: “respectful”, “political discussion” and “Facebook” in the same headline.

Someone I’ll call Brett posted on Facebook a link to an article titled Check the Race Box or Else . It indicated that, according to the Boston Globe:

“Newly hired [City of Boston] employees fill out forms… that ask them to indicate their gender and to identify their race or ethnicity in one of five categories Continue reading “Respectful political discussion on Facebook”

The Lydster, Part 126: Allergies

Cats, and in particular, Midnight and Stormy, The Daughter LOVES.

looks like a young Stormy
looks like a young Stormy
The Daughter went to the allergist in early August to get a skin test. She tested positive for dust mites, plus pollens in grass, ash, birch, beech, maple, oak and poplar. These were previously known.

The new wrinkle: she’s now allergic to cats.

As noted, we got two cats last year. Continue reading “The Lydster, Part 126: Allergies”

Dad, and corporal punishment

I wrote my father a very angry letter, expressing great disdain for his use of corporal punishment. As a result of my letter, dad stopped talking to me for about six months.

spankingOne of the issues the National Football League has been dealing with this month involves Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson [being] indicted for allegedly hitting his son with a switch [small tree branch] until he left open wounds and welts. Interesting to me that Charles Barkley, former National Basketball Association star defended the behavior as of the culture. But Cris Carter, Hall of Fame wide receiver who played primarily with the Vikings, passionately decried as something better left to an earlier time.

When we did something wrong, or perceived to be so, my father used this brown leather strap Continue reading “Dad, and corporal punishment”

Ramblin' with Roger
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