Ramblin' with Roger

Not to be replaced by Facebook

Facebook is really good for snark.

When I noted that I’ll be doing less blogging someday, I should have made it clear that I won’t be filling up that time using Facebook. I mention this specifically because many of my original blogging buddies from 2005 and 2006 have done just that.

I suppose if one is just posting cartoons and videos, then Facebook might be the right venue. I know columnists from my local newspaper and reporters from TV stations and indeed TV networks use it to pose questions to get a sense of the “pulse of the people.” Said content often shows up in their newscasts/broadcasts.

But if one wants to say something more, I still am a fan of the blog. Of course, I realize I’m an old-fashioned guy who STILL hates the designated hitter rule in baseball.

Facebook is really good for snark, some pithy comments in response to a cartoon someone has posted. I’ve been known to engage in it from time to time myself; once I did it on the wrong person’s timeline, and it turned out better than I would have expected. And I do make use of the reminders about people’s birthdays.

Moreover, Facebook can be a useful tool for research. “Does anybody know” where something can be purchased or when some event took place; something to be said for collective wisdom.

For some people, such as my nieces, it’s the only way I know what’s going on in their lives. For others, it’s the only way I can get ahold of them; if they have e-mail, they don’t check it, and I can only reach them if I instant message them when they are online.

However, I get more spam that gets posted onto my timeline. Actually, it’s the same one: “Hey, check this out!” I don’t know how to stop it, and I’m unaware it’s there until/unless someone points it out to me.

Facebook: useful tool which I will not use to replace blogging, in case you were wondering.

Eight years of blogging

Boy, that summer of 2005, when I probably had no one READING my blog, I sure seemed to have had a LOT to say.

I started blogging eight years ago today, apparently without much forethought. because, in the lyrics of that Rufus featuring Chaka Khan song, “Once you get started, it’s so hard to stop.” I’ve managed to blog every single day here.

To be sure, occasionally it was just a single YouTube video, but even then, it almost always had a soupçon of contextual verbiage. (Here’s a question for you all – how does one type a ç from a standard US typewriter? The one in the previous sentence I cut and pasted.)

One of the ways I have maintained whatever level of sanity I have is that I don’t blog here nearly as often as I used to. Some days early on, I would blog here more than once a day. I’ve tried very hard not to do that anymore.

The table below shows how many times each month I wrote posts numbering greater than the number of days in that month. I didn’t start until May 2 of 2005; thus those Xs for January-April.
2005 X, X, X, X, 3, 10, 18, 28, 22, 17, 14, 8 = 120
2006 10, 5, 9, 4, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1 = 31
2007 0, 0, 3, 1, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2, 3, 1, 1 = 15
2008 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 3, 3, 0, 1, 0, 0 = 9
2009 0, 0, 1, 3, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 = 5
2010 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 = 2
2011 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 2, 1 = 8
2012 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 = 0
Zeros for 2013 thus far.

Boy, that summer of 2005, when I probably had no one READING my blog except my friend Fred and his wife Lynn, I sure seemed to have had a LOT to say.

Of course, what I’ve done, when I ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY had to write something else, when I have something set in this blog, is to try to post it elsewhere, perhaps my Times Union blog, especially if it was something specific to the Albany area, e.g., or the New York State Data Center blog if it involved geeky stats.

Since not writing at all has taken place now and then – life DOES get in the way – having a reserve of posts is a good strategy. I had eight fewer completed blog posts in the queue on the last Monday in February of this year than I did on the last Monday in January, whittling down my reserve from 31 to 23, and it’s pretty much stayed there. Now you might think 23 is good, but it’s not the stuff that I can, or want, to post in the next 23 days. It’ll be a post I’d rather put up on a particular day (Flag Day, the anniversary of my father’s death, ABC Wednesday, or the like).

What I wrote last year seems more likely now than ever. After I hit 10 years as a daily blog, a goodly run, it will become…not a daily blog. (Probably. Maybe. Who knows?) Certainly, I’ll write three or four or five times a week at least. Heck, in October of 2015, I might make it seven days a week for a couple of weeks, because the info contained therein will be of interest for only a few college friends I knew 40 years earlier. Yes, I know what I’m going to blog about in October of 2015. I don’t always know what I’m going to blog about in May 2013, but two and a half years from now…

One other thing: I used to timestamp my blog posts between 4:30 and 5:30 a.m., Eastern standard time, for no other reason than it gave the impression that I got up every morning to craft these words of wisdom. Now that I’m in my 60s, I’ve decided to post between 6:00 and 6:59; the minute part is determined by the minute when I publish. Since this is fed to my Twitter feed and my Facebook page, I theorize, correctly or not, that more people will see it. Of course, if I REALLY wanted more people in North America to see it, I’d post at noon, but obviously, this is not based on REAL rational thought.

My favorite albums from 1961-1970: 125-101

This album was named for its Warner Brothers Records catalog number.

Continuing with this list of my favorite albums of the decade. I want to specifically reiterate that they are not necessarily the best, but that they gave, and not infrequently give me enjoyment.

Before that, though, gotta mention one album on SamuraiFrog’s excellent finale. Judy Garland: Judy at Carnegie Hall (1961) is not on my list. I never owned it, though I was certainly aware of it. The Capitol Records LP inner sleeves from the mid-1960s – the Beatles and Beach Boys were on the label – always featured it. Probably the first of several albums on his list I’ll have to check out.

125. The Who: Sell Out (1967)
Another album I discovered only in the past decade, via my old friend Fred Hembeck. The motif of faux ads was stolen on some SpongeBob SquarePants CD I own.

124. Joe Cocker: Mad Dogs and Englishmen (1970)
Love the Frenchman’s introduction – “Joe Co-CARE”

123. Rascals: Collections (1967)
The second album, not the greatest hits.

122. Beach Boys: Sunflower (1970)
Underrated at a point the Beach Boys were pretty much written off commercially.

121. Doors: Strange Days (1967)

120. Rolling Stones: Between The Buttons (1967)

119. Van Morrison: Moondance (1970)

118. Righteous Brothers: Back to Back (1965)
Features ‘Hung On You’, written by Goffin/King/Spector plus ‘Ebb Tide.’

117. Ramsey Lewis Trio: Hang On Ramsey! (1965)
A live jazz album that features ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ and ‘Hang On, Sloopy’.

116. Donovan: Open Road (1970)
‘Celtic Rock’ is a particularly engaging tune.

115. Cream: Fresh (1966)
My 7th-grade history group referred to the group as The Cream. My friend Karen disdainfully corrected him: “It’s Cream.”

114. Peter, Paul, and Mary: Album 1700 (1967)
This album, with ‘Leaving On A Jet Plane,” was named for its Warner Brothers Records catalog number.

113. Bill Cosby: Wonderfulness (1966)

112. Laura Nyro: Eli And The 13th Confession (1968)
This woman belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, if only as a songwriter.

111. Herbie Hancock: Maiden Voyage (1965)

110. Mamas & the Papas: The Mamas & The Papas (1966)
The second album.

109. The Night They Raided Minsky’s – movie soundtrack (1968)
This is a slight album – only four or five songs, repeated – in a film I saw at the time. I went with my friend Carol and her friend Judy, for whom I developed a bit of a crush; nothing ever came of it. I know the lyrics to the verse of ‘Take 10 Terrific Girls (But Only 9 Costumes)’ by heart.

108. Derek and the Dominoes: Layla (1970)
My neighbor’s cat in college was named Layla. (My cat, Layla’s sister, was named Doris.)

107. Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde (1966)
This is about the time I first really knew Dylan as the artist, rather than as the songwriter, but bought much later.

106. Doors: The Doors (1967)
I prefer the single version of ‘Light My Fire’, actually. The organ solo was boring to me.

105. Beatles: Beatles for Sale (1964)
Now we get into the murky Beatles territory since this did not exist in the US when I was growing up, only in most of the rest of the world. So it’s a new collection for me – OK, 25 years old, but not nearly 50.

104. Mamas & the Papas: The Papas & The Mamas (1968)
The group went on hiatus, had a greatest hits album, then got together again.

103. Simon & Garfunkel: Wednesday Morning 3 AM (1964)
Much more folky than their later output.

102. Grateful Dead: Workingman’s Dead (1970)

101. Joni Mitchell: Ladies Of The Canyon (1970)
When I was in the play Boys in the Band in the spring of 1975, the cast was at someone’s house and played side one. Enough folks had disdain for the album so that we never heard Side 2, which is more uptempo and might have gone over better with the group.
***
Re: my previous post on the topic, Dustbury discusses the song ‘Reflections.’

April Rambling: Kiwi marriage equality; Eddie’s aunts

Jaquandor has been doing this musical A to Z, and they’re all interesting.

Roger Green.child — moi, a couple of years ago

“If every kid having a mom and a dad is really what you are concerned about,” Miriam Axel-Lute expects “to also see you showing up” for these struggles.

The Fagbug meets Equality House.

Arthur: “When I was a kid, I expected life to be a certain way, and that way did not include being true to myself. I simply couldn’t imagine that one day I might be a full citizen.” Here is his favorite speech (it IS a hoot) and his favorite moment in the marriage equality passage in New Zealand.

The Man On the Street: Three Decades of Street Harassment.

This month in 1889, the so-called “Unassigned Lands” in what is now central Oklahoma were opened to white settlement, the celebrated Oklahoma Land Run. “The Native tribes, you may be sure, aren’t quite so enthusiastic about celebrating.”

Mr. Frog re: Spike Lee’s School Daze and a Ramble About Racism.

10 Cover-ups That Just Made Things Worse.

27 science fictions that became fact in 2012.

Meryl: Logos: The power of grounding logic and expectations in our communications. Also, Optical Illusions and their role in Education, Brain Training, and Visual Literacy; at least check out the video at the end of the latter one.

J: The sexiest letter.

Neil Gaiman: There wasn’t anything in there that indicated that I was going to be a writer, a real writer, with something to say, except for one thing, and it was this: I was writing. There was lots of writing going on.

I whine a lot about writing, but I never have whined quite so persuasively as this.

Healing the Wounded Womb.

MY FAVORITE STORY OF THE MONTH: Eddie writes This is the Story of Gussie and Bertie, two of his aunts, of a sort.

Tegan tells a story.

Amy’s momoir.

Mark Evanier sells the house he grew up in.

Happy Navroze – a personal look at the Zoroastrian holiday

SamuraiFrog’s fond memory of Turkey in the Straw.

Math Anxiety: What it is and How to Relieve Its Stress and Impact.

Here’s an alphabet mural Ken Jennings painted on his daughter’s wall when she was a newborn. Very clever.

Jaquandor has been doing this musical A to Z, and they’re all interesting. Cheri asked what music makes me cry. One of them is his B. “Bach’s music is, to me, architectural. It is mathematical. Now, to some that might make it sound like the music is clinical and sterile in emotion, but nothing could be further from the truth.” Another is his D; funny story therein. He ALSO wrote a great obit of trumpeter Bud Herseth, who you’ve probably never heard of – I hadn’t – but still a most worthwhile read, and listen.

Lost in translation: CHEERS theme in German, and an ad for the musical Wicked when it got to Helsinki, Finland. Also, If you don’t understand this commercial…

The latest Carl Reiner book, and an anecdote about a funeral.

From the 1940 Charlie Chan movie, Murder Over New York: The police round up every Hindu in town.

Always liked Jonathan Winters, and sorry he died. Here’s what Ken Levine had a nice piece. Mark Evanier wrote several pieces; first thoughts; Jonathan receiving the Mark Twain Award at the Kennedy Center in 1999; him at a recording session for Garfield and Friends in 1990.

Willie Nelson turns 80 this week, and Coverville celebrates the occasion.

I probably watched Pat Summerall announcing sporting events for 40 years. And Maria Tallchief, a great dancer.

Never DID trust Winnie the Pooh.

Someone on Facebook wrote: “If you’re a geezer, you’ll hear it in your head.” And I do.

K-Chuck Radio: Miles to go before I sleep…

Contraptions: Oreo separator machine. Also, a recipe for making ice.

The state capitals.

Photos of Insects with Drops of Water On Their Heads

P is for Poland’s perimeter

“The allies decided then that the eastern parts of Poland would be passed on to the republics of the Soviet Union.”

When I was in 10th grade, or maybe earlier, I was taking a world history course. Much to my distress, I discovered that, in the 1790s, Poland did disappear as a free country. It was carved up by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. “At the height of its power, the Commonwealth of Poland included Lithuania, Belarus, and much of Ukraine.

It developed a unique form of government in which the nobility elected the king and a single dissenting vote (the liberum veto) stopped any legislation. This system invited foreign intervention and civil war, and made the country vulnerable to more powerful neighbors.”

Due to the intellectual and artistic climate of the early 19th century, which included the great composer Chopin, there was a “growth of Polish demands for self-government.” Armed rebellion, though, was ultimately unsuccessful. The latter part of this period was also a time of a large Polish emigration, largely to the United States.

Now, I grew up in Binghamton, a small upstate New York city with a fairly sizable eastern European population. So not only did I think these imperialistic actions were terribly unfair, I recognized, even then, that the changing boundaries of a country must wreak havoc on anyone trying to do any type of genealogical research.

Poland was reborn as an independent nation after World War I. However, after the Second World War, “the allies decided then that the eastern parts of Poland would be passed on to the republics of the Soviet Union. The large cities… were ethnically predominantly or almost exclusively Polish… After 1945 most of the “eastern” Poles were forced to resettle into the present area of Poland and especially into its new western territories which in turn had been cut off from the ‘old’ Germany.”

Here’s a 100-second video showing Poland’s changing borders over the centuries.

ABC Wednesday – Round 12