Ramblin' with Roger

Sunday Stealing: email

if I had two million dollars

This week’s Sunday Stealing continues to purloin queries from 200 Questions, so I dubbed it 200.06. It includes email.

1. What do you hope your last words will be?

It will probably be some intentional malaprop such as refrigagator instead of refrigerator or ipitical allasion for optical illusion. People will wonder what I was trying when I merely found them fun to say.

2. What do you spend the most time thinking about?

The never-ending To-Do List.

3. What is something you can never seem to finish?

It is getting rid of my emails. I have, seriously, over 10,000 emails. Some I want to use for a blog or for a project. But a good chunk of them could easily—well, not easily, because I haven’t done it—be systematically purged, and I need to do that because my Gmail is over half full.

4. What mistake do you keep making again and again?

Taking on more than I can handle. I thought that would become easier when I retired, but that proved to be a total lie. I feel like I’ve I’m failing retirement.

5. What’s the best thing you got from your parents?

From my father, it was a love of music, a love of listening to and singing it. From my mother, it was kindness and patience, though I’m not always sure the patience has stuck in my case.

6. What’s the best and worst thing about getting older?

The best thing about getting older is that I have a wide swath of knowledge about many things. The worst thing about getting older is that there’s all this new stuff I can’t keep up with.

Myth

7. What do you wish your brain was better at doing?

I’m convinced that the notion of multitasking is a fiction. In any case, my brain can’t do it.

8. If your childhood had a smell, what would it be?

Lilac, specifically the lilac tree or lilac bush, more correctly. It sat right next to our house when I was growing up in Binghamton, NY.

9. What have you created that you are most proud of?

At some level, it may be this blog because I’ve been doing it every day for almost 19 1/2 years. There are very few things that I’ve done as long continuously. This gives me a chance to plug things I want to plug, like the Underground Railroad Educational Center’s Interpretive Center or church concerts or library events. Maybe I brag about my daughter or my nieces. It has helped me remember stuff that I would have otherwise forgotten.

10. What were some of the turning points in your life?

There are too many to count, but certainly, I have had relationships, romantic and otherwise, that didn’t work, or relationships I didn’t have that could have happened. This is very vague and intentionally so.

No guilty pleasures

11. What song or artist do you like but rarely admit to liking?

This is not an issue. If I like it, I say I like it. If you just don’t think I should like it, I don’t care. I’ve said more than once that I’m very fond of Could It Be Magic by Barry Manilow because I love the Chopin upon which it’s built.

I was thinking a lot about a guy named Dustbury, given the name Charles Hill, who died five years ago last month. We would talk online about music a lot. I remember telling him that every time I’m feeding the cats, I start singing the song “Cat Food” by the band King Crimson. He thought that was very funny.

12. What small impact from a stranger made a big impact on you?

I don’t know if there’s a specific stranger. When I’m riding on the train or a Greyhound/Trailways bus and I have conversations with people, I find that there’s always some interesting and odd piece of information or understanding that I take from that.

Disinformation

13. As you get older, what are you becoming more and more afraid of?

Global warming. Clearly the ferocity of some of the hurricanes that have hit in the US Southeast this year are result of it. The other thing is the constant… misrepresentation of what’s been happening in the world. The administration is doing nothing to help the people suffering and/or they created the hurricanes.

14. What are some of the events in your life that made you who you are?

Substantially, it was moving to Schenectady in December 1977. I subsequently moved to nearby Albany, where I’ve lived for 45 years. It’s not too big or small and has decent mass transit. But I think there are multitudes of events that would qualify.

15. What could you do with $2 million to impact the most amount of people?

I don’t know. I’ve been fond of nonprofit groups such as R.I.P. Medical Debt, which have relieved Americans of billions in hospital bills. They pay a fraction of the money due, which has a real multiplier effect. However, a study found that it did not improve their mental health or their credit score. It is a puzzlement.

#1 Hot Black Singles for 1984

what about Country?

Here are the #1 Hot Black Singles for 1984. The word Hot wasn’t added until October 20, the same week Billboard added it to the Adult Contemporary nomenclature.

As noted, two songs appeared on the pop, AC, and Black Singles that year. Hello by Lionel Richie (2 weeks pop, 6 weeks AC, 3 weeks RB) and I Just Called To Say I Love You by Stevie Wonder (3 weeks each on all three charts).

Also, When Doves Cry by Prince was #1 for 8 weeks RB and for 5 weeks pop. Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run) by Billy Ocean was #1 for 4 weeks RB and for 2 weeks pop. Let’s Hear It For The Boy by Deniece Williams was #1 for 3 weeks RB and for 2 weeks pop. Ghostbusters by Ray Parker, Jr. was #1 for 2 weeks RB and for 3 weeks pop. Let’s Go Crazy – Prince and the Revolution was #1 for 1 week RB and 2 weeks pop.

Somebody’s Watching Me – Rockwell, 5 weeks at #1; also #2 for three weeks pop. He was born Kennedy Gordy, a son of Berry Gordy. Michael Jackson sang background vocals, though he denied his involvement for YEARS, not wanting to upstage Rockwell.

Operator – Midnight Star, 5 weeks at #1; also #18 pop

If Only You Knew – Patti LaBelle, 4 weeks at #1; also #46 pop

She’s Strange – Cameo, 4 weeks at #1; also #47 pop, which explains why it was unfamiliar to me

I Feel For You – Chaka Khan, 3 weeks at #1. It was written and recorded by Prince five years earlier. A Grammy-winning song featuring Grandmaster Melle Mel (rap) and Stevie Wonder (harmonica); also #3 for three weeks pop. VERY familiar.

Joanna – Kool & The Gang, 2 weeks at #1; also #2 pop

A single week at #1 RB

Encore – Cheryl Lynn; also #69 pop

Don’t Waste Your Time – Yarborough & Peoples; did not chart on the pop charts

Lovelight – O’Bryan; also #101 pop. Very dancable.

Cool It Now – New Edition; also #4 pop

Country

I was also going to list the #1 country songs of 1984 – Billboard had used the term Hot Country since the 1960s. However, there are 50 – FIFTY! – of them! I ain’t doing that.

The only songs charting #1 for even two weeks:

Why Not Me – The Judds; the Grammy-winning song did not chart on the pop charts

To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before – Julio Iglesias & Willie Nelson; also #5 pop

Arias in the Afternoon

geothermal infrastructure

At the end of September, my wife and I attended a fundraiser entitled Arias in the Afternoon. It celebrated the Underground Railroad Education Center, which has been researching and sharing, through conferences and public presentations, the story of the Underground Railroad in Albany and beyond for the past two decades.

A key element of the exploration has been the discovery of the former residence of Stephen and Harriet Myers, prominent leaders of the Underground Railroad in Albany during the 1850s, at 194 Livingston Avenue, which is currently the base of operations of UREC.

UREC “needs more space to expand its empowering interpretive programs and community engagement opportunities, and to develop new programs and ways to interact with the community far and wide.” Also, the Stephen and Harriet Myers Residence could be restored “to its period of historic relevance.”

Here’s a description of the forthcoming Interpretive Center. After attending the groundbreaking ceremony a few months ago, I discovered that the building’s construction is environmentally sound. “The Center will contain a geothermal infrastructure and be designed according to Living Building Challenge of Sustainability standards for green buildings, which focuses on a regenerative built environment, aligning with and meeting the zero-greenhouse gas emission standards set by New York State’s Gov. Hochul. The building will incorporate surrounding green spaces… deliberately designed to enhance health benefits in the neighborhood.”

Argus Hotel

The Arias event was at the Argus Hotel. I’ve only lived in Albany since 1979, so I hadn’t heard of The Argus Hotel. Where is it? 8 Thurlow Terrace, that one-block road from Western Avenue near the downtown SUNY Campus to just before Washington Park. I’ve SEEN that big old house, but I didn’t know it was a hotel.

As stated in the bulletin, Arias in the Afternoon’s “event champion ” was the honorable Patricia Fahy. Pat Fahy is my assemblyperson for the 109th district in the New York State Legislature. She’s currently running for the New York State Senate in my district. She has been a champion for the Interpretive Center.

The event ran from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. I arrived after church, around 12:30, so I missed Pat Fahy’s opening remarks and the first round of singing by Daniel Pascoe Aguilar, though I did listen to him later. There was also a pianist, Paul Cronin, who I did hear. If you would like to support the construction of the Interpretive Center, go to the bottom of this page.

After my wife, who arrived after a church rehearsal, and I left, we went to the Upper Madison Street Fair, one block from our house featuring music, food, and more. I even got a massage.

At both events, I saw several people I knew, some for the first time in a while. The day gave me that good Albany feel.

Not editing a book

time is not fungible

I’m not editing a book.

A few months ago, a friend asked me if I would edit a book written by the adult child of a famous deceased person. The parent is a name that at least some of you would instantly recognize.

I said yes. This was probably a mistake because I had not read the book before I agreed to edit it. The writer was also peculiar in that they were very concerned about the possibility that I or somebody else might exploit them based on their parent’s name. It was a weird interaction.

As I started editing the book, I had far less time to work on it than I anticipated. In the summer of 2023, my wife worked almost the entire summer; I think she took off perhaps a week or so. My daughter also worked several hours a week at a clothing store.

Different this time

In the summer of ’24, my wife took off for eight weeks, which was good and proper. But we had lots of projects to do in the house that needed to happen because of some insurance issue that is more in the weeds than I need to get into here. My daughter was working fewer hours than she hoped at the new store she was working at. Moreover, we went on vacation, a week at Chautauqua and a week in DC.

So, the time I thought I had available to work on this project did not exist. Still, it became very difficult for me because I was fussy enough to want to fulfill the obligations.

After talking to a couple of people, I contacted the person who asked me to edit the book, and they said OK, we don’t want you to go crazy. Then I had to talk to the author. I sent them an e-mail, which they obviously didn’t see. So I texted – one does not just call – and they wrote back: “Book seems like a curse. No one finished it. Crazy.” Did I mention I was not the first to take on the book? The notes from a previous editor were still in my version.

Reboot

But this episode got me thinking about the other things I’m doing in my life, the things that are working for me, what I really want to do, and what I don’t.

I want to work on genealogy, which I have not spent enough time on. My sister Leslie had talked to both our third cousin on our mother’s side and my father’s first cousin and did a lot of work when she was in Binghamton in July, filling in some holes in our genealogy. The problem is that I haven’t even had time to enter some of the records that I have or the 1000 cues that ancestry.com has provided me.

I want to sing in the church choir. Our choir will sing the Bach Magnificat on Friday, December 6th, at 6:00 PM at First Presbyterian Church in Albany. You should come.

My wife and I are going to see plays and movies.

So, other things have to go off the table. I’ll just have to, in the words of Nancy Reagan, just say no. It won’t be easy at times, but my sanity requires it.

Finnish kids recognize fake news

AI manipulation

On CBS Sunday Morning, which continues to be one of my favorite programs, there was a September 30 segment about how Finnish kids recognize fake news. “Being able to identify hoaxes, avoid scams, and debunk propaganda is a civic skill required in today’s information society. That’s why the curriculum of students in Finland includes media literacy lessons, aimed at safeguarding a precious resource: the truth.”

There’s a similar story on CNA. Finland’s war against fake news starts at a young age. “With an ever-growing number of people getting their news online, being able to work out what’s true – and what’s not – has never been more important. In a world of digital disinformation, one country is often held up as the benchmark for having a media-literate population. Finland has topped the Media Literacy Index for the seven years the ranking system has been in existence.”

In 2019, CNN reported on the topic. “Finland is winning the war on fake news. What it’s learned may be crucial to Western democracy.”

I will state the obvious here: we need this in the United States, and not just for children. As a citizen and a librarian, misinformation, and especially disinformation, distresses me.

I posted on Facebook a visual about the myth when people say, “Do your own research!” This post is credited to Linda Gamble Spadaro, a licensed medical mental health counselor in Florida. “You didn’t research anything. You read or watched a video, most likely with little or no objectivity. You came across something in your algorithm-manipulated feed, something that jived with your implicit biases and served your confirmation bias, and subconsciously applied your emotional filters and called it proof.”

My buddy J. Eric Smith wrote about this topic 14 years ago, and it’s still dead on.

Looking for nonsense

I pulled out my phone on October 2 to check my Facebook feed.

Rock Music World: “Ringo Starr turns 84 today!” No, he didn’t. He is 84, but his birthday is July 7. At least 78 people shared the post. Various feeds list the birthdays of actors and musicians, but they are often incorrect. You may think of this as inconsequential, but I guess I’m old-school enough to think that FACTS MATTER, especially easily verifiable ones. (Ssh: I’ve been known to use books.) A Google search would get you to Ringo’s website, but every other source in the search, such as Modern Drummer, confirms the real date.

Some guy from New Jersey is sharing something I’ve seen before: [SIC] “I’m no mathematician, but I’m not bad at math. Can someone please explain? AOC went into office broke and in five years she’s worth $29 million. on a $155K salary??? When does her investigation begin?” Never. Check out FactCheck, Politifact, USA Today, and other sources.

Then there was the photo showing djt in a lifejacket helping storm victims in floodwaters after Hurricane Helene. One Facebook user posted of the picture, “I think we should all repost it!!!!” Another person added, “‘He lives and cares for people, all people!” And “I don’t think Facebook wants this picture on Facebook. They have been deleting it.” The post received more than 150,000 shares in just 16 hours.” And it’s FALSE. “Odd-looking hands and fingers are one sign of AI manipulation in photos.”

Some folks need to make a minimum of effort to verify before they share.

The worst

Unfortunately, the biggest purveyor of falsehood, particularly in light of the Hurricane Helene disaster, is the 45th president. He lies about how money has been funneled from potential hurricane victims to immigrants. Not only does he harm the people who could use the help, but he also foments despair and immigrant phobia.

Extracted from Heather Cox Richardson, “Letters From an American,” 9/27/2024:

“Republican governor of Virginia Glenn Youngkin told reporters that he was ‘incredibly appreciative of the rapid response and cooperation from the federal team at FEMA.’ Asheville, North Carolina, mayor Esther Manheimer told CNBC, ‘We have support from outside organizations, other fire departments sending us resources, the federal government as well. So it’s all-hands-on-deck, and it is a well-coordinated effort, but it is so enormous….’”

And the lies persist.

But my favorite bit of nonsense, because it’s so obvious, was in my email, with an attachment I did not open. “Good morning. When there are ambiguous conditions around a contract, Agreement-Number… can be used in the event that it is difficult to determine whether it was created, expired without being resolved, or is no longer valid as a result of the contract having expired. so long”