Ramblin' with Roger

Harold Gould; Edwin Newman

Edwin Newman had a detestation of pomposity, clichés, errors and jargon, especially from the powerful.

I am particularly fascinated with the story of Harold Gould, an actor with over 200 credits on his resume. He grew up in Schenectady, NY, near Albany, and went to State Teachers College, which is now UAlbany, belonging to the only Jewish fraternity available. His academics were interrupted by World War II, but he came back to Albany to get his degree in 1947. Eventually, taking the advice of his high school guidance counselor, he taught theater at Cornell. But eventually, the acting bug caught the teacher, and he became one of the best-known faces, if not names, in show business.

Here’s a 2003 interview with him.

He was in pilots to be the fathers of Ann Marie (Marlo Thomas) on That Girl and Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard) on the Love American Style that led to Happy Days, but a whole lot more, from the father of Rhoda Morganstern (Valerie Harper) on the Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda to the boyfriend of Rose Nyland (Betty White) on Golden Girls.

In 2007, he donated his papers to his alma mater, now UAlbany. “The Gould Collection includes 10,000 scripts, letters, photos, news clippings and interviews that document the popular actor’s career since its beginnings in the early 1960s.”

Here’s the Albany Times Union obit, and the one in the New York Times. He died this week of prostate cancer at the age of 86, the disease that killed my father.

I was a big fan of Edwin Newman, not just as a newsman on The Today Show, Meet the Press and a slew of other programs. While serious in demeanor, he had a dry wit. After he “retired” from NBC in 1984, he hosted Saturday Night Live, and often played himself in movies and television, including on David Letterman. He also wrote two best-sellers about the English language, Strictly Speaking: Will America be the Death of English? – his detestation of pomposity, clichés, errors, and jargon, especially from the powerful; and A Civil Tongue. He wasn’t pretty or bombastic or self-important; he was just good at informing the nation, even during its most trying times.

The NBC obit. He died last month in England, but the information was released recently.

Wrong Premise, Right Outcome

“America has been a land of religious freedom. To many people, it seems impossible that this country could ever be anything but a defender of liberty in matters of faith.
That actually is a very dangerous view because it easily leads to complacency, assuming that what has been always will be…”

I’m not a big fan of Biblical apocalyptic writings. It’s less that I find them true or untrue and more that I see them as irrelevant. If Jesus is coming back, he said clearly that no one knows the day or time when he’ll reappear. Thus, all the speculation about this sign or that “proving” the Lord’s return, something that’s been going on for over 1900 years is, to my mind, pointless at best.

Still, there was this free magazine in one of those newspaper boxes called Signs of the Times®, which “encourages readers to lead joyful Christian lives as they await the soon return of Jesus.” The cover story of the September 2010 issue was Is the United States in Bible prophecy? by Marvin Moore.

The article concludes that the United States is the “land beast” mentioned in the books of Daniel and Revelation (read the article if you want to know what that means). The land beast is a global, end-time superpower and a Christian nation. I know others seem to think the land beast is the UN, BTW.

But here’s the stuff that piqued my interest:
if the land beast…is the United States, we can conclude that this nation’s historic separation between government and religion will end someday, because the land beast will enforce a particular form of worship…[it] will enforce its false worship with an iron fist. Anyone who refuses to receive the mark of the beast will be barred from carrying out any economic activity—he or she will not be allowed to buy or sell…
America has been a land of religious freedom. To many people, it seems impossible that this country could ever be anything but a defender of liberty in matters of faith.
That actually is a very dangerous view because it easily leads to complacency, assuming that what has been always will be… If we fail in our vigilance, the United States could very well turn on its historical principle of religious freedom.

Indeed, there is evidence that this is happening even now. I am frankly troubled by the profound hostility some Christians in America hold toward the principle of church-state separation, which is the foundation of religious freedom. Church-state separation simply means that government and religion operate in distinctive spheres, each recognizing the unique responsibilities of the other. They are separate in the sense that neither should ever control the other.

Should the United States ever abandon its commitment to the principle of church-state separation, persecution of dissenters will inevitably follow… we should defend, for as long as possible, the principle that government and religion operate in separate spheres, neither dictating the laws that govern the other.

So while I don’t necessarily subscribe to the apocalyptic premise of the piece, the conclusion that church-state separation is a good thing is a position with which I can firmly agree.
***
This is from The Onion, but I’d swear it’s true: God Angrily Clarifies ‘Don’t Kill’ Rule

I is for International System of Units

I blame Arthur. There’s this blogger/podcaster I’ve been following, AmeriNZ, an American expat now living in New Zealand. At some point in a recent podcast, he asked if anyone in his audience knew what one calls the United States system of measurement involving pounds, quarts, and feet, knowing, KNOWING that I would have to look it up; the scoundrel!

Since I could not find the answer anywhere online, I decided to contact the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and not just NIST but its Weights and Measures Division. And do you know what the woman on the phone told me? There IS no standard nomenclature for the collective U.S. weights and measurements!

Meanwhile, the system most people call “the metric system” is actually The International System of Units, Système International d’Unités, or SI for short.
At the heart of the SI is a shortlist of base units defined in an absolute way without referring to any other units… In all there are seven SI base units:
the meter for distance,
the kilogram for mass,
the second for time,
the ampere for electric current,
the kelvin for temperature,
the mole for amount of substance, and
the candela for intensity of light.
Other SI units, called SI derived units, are defined algebraically in terms of these fundamental units. Probably most used among them is degrees Celsius; absolute zero is zero degrees Kelvin, -273.16 C.

Those who claim the United States is slow off the metric ball are only partially right. “The key agreement is the Treaty of the Meter (Convention du Mètre), signed in Paris on May 20, 1875. 48 nations have now signed this treaty, including all the major industrialized countries. The United States is a charter member of this metric club, having signed the original document back in 1875.” All countries have adopted the metric system, including the U.S., and most countries (but not the U.S.) have taken steps to eliminate most uses of traditional measurements. In fact, most food items in the US are marked with dual designations. A brief history of the metric system in the US can be found HERE.

“Nearly all countries people still use traditional units sometimes, at least in colloquial expressions.” For instance, a miss is as good as a mile or a pinch for an inch.

Bookmark this! Online Conversion.com converts “just about anything to anything else.” There is also Convert.exe, a freeware program…found to be virus-free [which] uses the 1959 conversion factors for distance, [weight temperature and derived functions]. Ah, so these measurements get tweaked from time to time.

Arthur and others moving to or from the United States have suggested going “cold turkey” in learning the new measurement scheme, and virtually all of them find the temperature to be the most difficult to translate intellectually. If it helps – I read this somewhere, but also sussed it out myself, and these are approximations – 16C=61F, 28C=82F, 40C=104F.

ABC Wednesday – Round 7

More Majorly Personal Meme

The Wife has a very strong moral compass that I trust implicitly.

Here’s the Sunday Stealing meme again: the 2nd half of Part 2 and all of Part 3.

31. Is it easier for you to go without food or go without sleep?

Sleep for certain.

32. What non-alcohol beverage do you enjoy drinking the most?

Flavored water.

33. When you walk into a room full of strangers, generally how is your confidence?

Lousy, but I think I fake it well.

34. Does talking about sex with anyone but your lover make you uncomfortable?

Not particularly, but I generally don’t.

35. Do you tend to believe members of the opposite sex mostly behave the same way?

Within parameters, sure. Although raising a daughter has me rethinking this a little. You try to raise her as a person, but by nurture or nature, she has become this girl who likes pink and purple and ballet and unicorns, nothing her parents imposed on her. And you see her male contemporaries, raised by like-minded parents, who have these truck-playing boys. Lydia has trucks but she usually plays with them to haul her dolls. Though she does love her train that dominates the dining room floor.

36. Did you drink any alcohol this week? If yes, what?

White Wine.

37. Would you ever consider being a vegetarian?

Yes.

38. Do you believe that there’s always room in your heart for someone?

I’d like to think so.

39. Do you believe in the concept of soul mates?

Not so much.

40. Last week, we had a few players criticize our victim’s questions. Which is fine to do and we value your opinion. Would you ever consider writing questions for Bud and me to post on a Sunday Stealing?

No. Time is not on my side.

41. What are your plans for this weekend?

Actually, there is this workshop on activism sponsored by several Presbyterian groups I’ll be attending Saturday. Church is on Sunday.

42. Do you think someone might be thinking poorly about you? Why might that be?

I’m sure it’s possible, likely because of my apparently “leftist” political leanings.

42. What features don’t you have that you would like on your cell?

No idea. I use the cell to make and receive calls.

43. How many people can comfortably sleep in your bed?

Two.

44. What are you hoping happens by the end of 2010?

For Paul McCartney to receive the Kennedy Center Honors. Might as well wish for things that are going to happen, rather than things that aren’t, such as the Democrats holding control of Congress.

45. What was the last video you watched on YouTube?

I’m guessing it’s one Eddie Mitchell posted most recently.

46. Would you ever agree to an open relationship with someone?

No.

47. Is there something that you could never give up?

You mean other than essentials like air and water? Possibly, but I don’t know what that would be.

48. Would you, (or did you) prefer a small, intimate wedding reception, or a big-scale, over-the-top reception?

It was pretty big, but simple, not over the top.

49. What’s bothering you right now?

Bigotry in all its forms.

50. Do you hate anyone?

Well, Glenn Beck is off my Christmas list.

51. What were you doing at 12 am last night?

I’m only sleeping – a Beatles cartoon.

52. Was this summer a good one? How warm was it where you live?

As is often the case, the wife programmed a whole lot more than was achievable, felt too busy. It was often very warm. Dare say the air conditioner was on a half dozen times in the summer of 2009, and at least five times that in the summer of 2010.

52. Is the last person you kissed before your current situation mad at you?

I’m assuming romantically. Actually, no.

53. Can a man and woman be friends without having feelings for each other?

Yes, happens to me all the time.

54. Do you think long-distance relationships work? If you’ve had one, tell us about it.

They can, but I think you need to establish the relationship together before that. I’ve never had any success at it.

55. Do you know why it’s called “Random Boredom“?

I have no idea what this means. In any case, I’m very seldom bored; too busy.

56. Do you thing that it’s always the man’s responsibility to initiate sex?

Not at all.

57. Have you ever made love while you were in the same room with another couple?

No.

58. Tell us the best thing about your current or most recent S/O.

She has a very strong moral compass that I trust implicitly.

59. Tell us the worst thing about your current or most recent S/O.

Sometimes she is totally unaware of current events.

60. Would you write one question in today’s comments so that we could have our followers allow us to steal their questions? We’ll need at least 15.

Well, it seems to be on my mind a lot lately: Who will be President of the United States in 2013?

My Pointless Twitter Encounter

We just don’t always treat each other fairly, and sometimes it is racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia or something else toxic.

I was tired from days of wedding celebrations. So, uncharacteristically, I went over to my Twitter feed and started reading, when I came across this:
Actually there is NO racism in America – and they have played that card one too many times – doesn’t mean a thing. with a couple of @s to a couple people. 8:13 AM

So I’m intrigued by this. Obviously, this is an ongoing conversation. I reply to her:
“There’s NO racism in America”? And who are “they” who “played that card once too often”? 8:18 AM

She responds:
They? Political Machine (including Media & Hollywood) – which you know this – so let’s stop the confused act 10:48 AM

Hey, this is no act. I didn’t know that racism was merely a creation of the powers that be:

So you’re saying racism is a media/Hollywood/political myth & doesn’t exist? This has not been my personal experience. 11:40 AM

A bit later, she replies:
So – YOU are saying – Challenges that ppl feel everyday – is RACISM? however does that track for you? Racism is a Political Term 6:24 PM

Ah, we ALL face challenges, ipso facto, there is no racism.
Humans treating other humans less well because of what, rather than who they are, that’s racism. Political term? OK. So what? 7:34 PM

Her next response annoyed me.
LOL – seriously? What Race is being treated less than humans? 7:41 PM

Well, I’ve spent too much time on this:
The old putting words in my mouth trick. never said what you suggested. I realize this is less than pointless. I retire. 7:55 PM

Her parting shot:
Putting words in your mouth? that is a trick honey- you need to go to a community where that would work 8:08 PM

Hmm. I suppose I was affected at the moment about something Rose wrote about discrimination, and probably even more so the story of a woman in a wheelchair who became all but invisible, and how she cleverly coped.

Also, last week, I was riding the bus, and a young teenager, presumably heading for school, was stopped by THREE Albany cop cars. All the folks on the bus were black, except for a couple of South Asians, and three of the black women assumed harassment of this young man, based on previous experiences with law enforcement. I never did know what the true story was in this case.

My point: we just don’t always treat each other fairly, and sometimes it IS racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, or something else particularly toxic. Is it all just some media agenda being played out? I’m thoroughly as unconvinced of that as I was unconvincing in changing my Twitter “buddy’s” mind.