ABC Wednesday Archives - Page 7 of 91

Technology does not like me – really, it doesn’t

The techie guy pointed out that my computer repeatedly needed replacement far earlier than anyone else’s

i-love-technology-but-technology-hates-me I believe i may have misrepresented myself in this blog. It is not that I dislike technology. Rather, it’s that technology does not like me.

Two or three work techies ago, the guy pointed out that my computer repeatedly needed replacement far earlier than anyone else’s. He told me that some folks just have “ions” or whatever that irritate machines. I’m not sure I believe that, but it WOULD explain things.

I have a printer on my desk, which worked for a short time, then inexplicably stopped. That was no big deal. i could print to one of the printers on the Local Area Network. Eventually, though, they too ceased working for me, but not for anyone else.

It’s now the folks who are at SUNY Central who tend to our machines. I called the help desk, who generally are very good at what they do. The techie took over my machine remotely.

In the beginning, no luck. Then a sample page was published, followed by 691 sheets of paper with merely one or two lines of gibberish. Finally, after 111 minutes, my local printer, and at least one of the LAN ones were working for me.

Other people don’t understand. When I’m walking back and forth to the various LAN printers, someone said, “Well, I’M not having any problems.” Diagnostically, that was actually useful information, but emotionally, not so much. Nearly two hours wasted – grrrr.

The good news is that because I know that technology does not like me, I’ve developed coping skills. For instance, there are two elevators in our building. We were told NOT to use the left elevator, with paper messages on each of the four floors. But it took them two days to TURN THE ELEVATOR OFF.

When one summons a lift, the left one would inevitably arrive first. This was actually frustrating to some people, but not to me. I’d get on the left elevator just enough to send it from the 1st to the 4th floor, then get out. THEN I’d summon the elevator again, and get on the right one.

Technology and I are still dating. I’m definitely not married to it.

For ABC Wednesday

Spanish words adopted into English

“The first English colonists in North America soon encountered their Spanish rivals in well-established settlements.”

Spanish-Words-in-English In The Story of English (1986), a book sitting literally right in front of me on the bookshelf in the home office, the authors noted that my native tongue borrowed “bellicose Spanish words (reflecting contemporary conflicts) like desperado and embargo.”

Later, it’s more generous: “The first English colonists in North America soon encountered their Spanish rivals in well-established settlements from Florida to Sante Fe, and it was from here that English acquired such everyday words as barbecue, chocolate and tomato…

“To this day, American English has borrowed more words from Spanish – like enchilada, marijuana, plaza, stampede and tornado – than from any other language, and the list is growing year by year.

“The [19th-Century cowboys’] contact with the horse-handlers brought a number of new words in American English: rodeo, stampede, bronco, chaps, lasso, mustang, lariat, pinto, poncho, ranch.”

I thought about this because I happened across this article in April 2019: 111 English Words That Are Actually Spanish. Unsurprisingly, several state names are included, such as California; Colorado – “red-colored”; Florida – “flowery”; Montana – mountain; Nevada – snowy; New Mexico – Nuevo México; Texas – the Spanish adopted the word tejas from the language of the indigenous Cado people, meaning “friends” or “allies”; Utah – from the name of the indigenous Ute people, via Spanish yuta; and probably Arizona.

I wouldn’t have guessed 10-gallon hat – from tan galán (so gallant), or possibly galón (braid). Or alligator – el lagarto (the lizard) were on the list.

The article also correctly notes: “English isn’t the only language with a penchant for absorbing words from other languages. Many words that English has acquired from Spanish originally came from other languages, mostly those of native American populations that were subjugated by the Spanish colonial empire.’ Popular “examples that entered English vernacular through the Nahuatl language in Mexico” are noted, including the aforementioned tomato.

See also an article from thoughtco: When Spanish Words Become Our Own; Adopted and Borrowed Words Enrich English.

For ABC Wednesday

Looking for Roger Green, but not me

The Legacy page includes an obituary for a 59-year-old from Pennsylvania who died this past February. Damn kidney cancer.

For no particular reason, other than I needed an R post for ABC Wednesday, I thought it was time to Google Roger Green, done from my computer on April 21. The second natural hit was the Wikipedia “Roger Green may refer to:

Roger Green (rugby league) (born before 1915), Welsh footballer
Roger Lancelyn Green (1918–1987), English writer
Roger Curtis Green (1932–2009), American archaeologist
Roger L. Green (born 1949), American politician
Roger Green (sailor)

The FIRST natural hit was for the said politician. When he was a New York State Assemblyman from Brooklyn, I’d get an occasional call for him in Albany.

A top hit was to a Visiting Professor in the nursing department at SUNY Poly in Utica, NY. I had never gotten this person before.

Also on the first page was the founder of Roger Green and Associates, Inc. (RG+A), a marketing firm. The perennial is also high on the paid search results. And his Glass Door page ranks well.

The feng shui guy is still around.

PAGE TWO

I’d never seen the MACHINE SHOP MANAGER at the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of California Santa Barbara.

Another new page to me: the guy who retired from Gordon College in Wenham, MA, Professor Emeritus of Biblical and Theological Studies, and a “longtime member and a scholar of The Salvation Army.”

A familiar site: The gunmaker.

Oh dear, the Legacy page includes an obituary for a 59 year old from Pennsylvania who died this past February. Damn kidney cancer. Then an 87-year-old from Texas, also in February, and a guy from England, who passed away on New Years Eve. Plus 95 more.

The Amazon page for the 2003 hardcover Hydra and the Bananas of Leonard Cohen by the English poet.

A recently deceased guy from Indiana leads the obits on Tributes page. At least his has content; another one merely reads: “Roger was a resident of Utah.” I checked; I’m not on the list.

Here are 21 sermons. I’ll have to give a listen sometime. Or not.

BTW, a lot of photos of people with my name are from departments of corrections,, i.e., prisons. Make of that as you will.

MOI

Most of the rest of the hits are of me: my underutilized Times Union blog, then this blog.

Finally, the local cable news station recorded my 2017 recollection of the October 4, 1987 snowstorm. They reached out to me based on this 2012 blog post.

For ABC Wednesday

Quora answers, some by me

Why don’t you blog on sites where you can be blocked, censored or ostracized?

quora Quora is a “question-and-answer website where questions are asked, answered, edited, and organized by its community of users in the form of opinions.” It began in June 2009, though I’d only been aware of it for the past couple years.

I’ve answered a handful of Quora questions, even some directed to me. Some of the ones I have NOT answered I did not think were questions that the person really wanted to know, just codifying their POV, such as “Why isn’t Hillary in jail yet?”

How do I add clickable links to my blog page?
Both Blogspot and WordPress have a LINK button when in post-writing mode which you can click on. That said, I tend to add links with simple code.

Why don’t you blog on sites where you can be blocked, censored or ostracized?
I HAVE been on a blog site where I have been, if not ostracized, then worked over pretty well. But if the intent of a blog is self-expression, WHY would I WANT to be on a site where I can be blocked?

Here are my replies to Why do bloggers blog other than for money? and Should I pre – make blog posts before going live with the site?

How large is the Library of Congress? According to the Library of Congress, a very reliable source, it has over 168 million items

Dustbury tends to address the Quora grifters.

How can I use my debit card if I don’t have it with me?
“You don’t have a debit card, Bunkie. What you have is a whole lot of greed and not a whole lot of smarts. Now quit trying to steal from the honest people out here”

Also: How can I get a fake credit card? and Where can I get a totally free, no sign up no credit card psychic reading which is accurate? and the bizarre If I create an email address with a domain I do not own, can the owner of the domain do anything to my email?

He’s got a bunch of replies, including How many women sleep nude?

My friend Allie responded to a query about giving money to street people:

“When my pastor is asked this he gives the answer he was given by a fellow man of the cloth-

“If you give and they do not need it it is on them but if you do not give and they are in need then that is on you

“Do as your conscience bids and keep Matthew 25 in mind.”

For ABC Wednesday

Pop Hits 1940-1954, #1 on the charts

This song was in my father’s folk repertoire. Sometimes he’d sing it in my classroom, causing idle speculation that I had a crush on a girl in class.

Tennessee Waltz Joel Whitburn has compiled several books about the variety of pop hits from the Billboard charts plus other sources, and even before magazine was published. (He has a Pop Memories book going back to 1890!)

But the results are a tad confusing, because there were actually THREE different charts: Best Sellers (BS from 1940), Juke Box charts (JB from 1944) and Disc Jockey charts (DJ from 1945).

So I thought I’d pick out songs that charted at #1 ten weeks or more, or if there were none for that particular year, the songs that charted most often.

1940/2/10 In the Mood -Glenn Miller and His Orchestra – 13 weeks (including a week in 1939)

1941/3/29 Amapola (Pretty Little Poppy) – Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra; Bob Eberly & Helen O’Connell, vocal – 10 weeks.

1942/10/31 White Christmas – Bing Crosby with the Ken Darby Singers, orchestra conducted by John Scott Trotter- 11 weeks; it also went to #1 DJ in 1945. A new version, with same backing, hit #1 for two weeks DJ in 1946. One of the biggest singles of all time.

1943/3/6 I’ve Heard That Song Before – Harry James and His Orchestra, Helen Forrest, vocal- 13 weeks.

1943/11/6 Paper Doll – Mills Brothers – 12 weeks. I loved those guys.

1944/1/15 Shoo-Shoo Baby – Andrews Sisters – 9 weeks JB,

1944/8/5 Swinging On A Star – Bing Crosby, with The Williams Brothers Quartet, orchestra conducted by John Scott Trotter – 9 weeks BS; 8 weeks JB.

1945/2/10 Rum And Coca-Cola – The Andrews Sisters, orchestra conducted by Vic Schoen- 10 weeks JB; 8 weeks BS.

1945/9/15 Till The End Of Time – Perry Como, orchestra conducted by Russell Case -10 weeks JB; 8 weeks BS. This is based on Chopin’s Polonaise.

1946/3/16 Oh! What It Seemed To Be – Frankie Carle & his Orchestra, vocal by Marjorie Hughes – 11 weeks JB; 6 weeks BS. This track competed with a version by Frank Sinatra, orchestra conducted by Axel Stordahl, which was #1 for ONLY 8 weeks DJ.

1946/5/25 The Gypsy – Ink Spots – 13 weeks JB; 10 weeks BS; 2 weeks JB.

1947/8/30 Near You – Francis Craig & his Orchestra, vocal by Bob Lamm – 17 weeks DJ; 13 weeks JB; 12 weeks BS.

1948/11/6 Buttons And Bows – Dinah Shore and her Happy Valley Boys – 10 weeks BS; 9 weeks JB; 5 weeks DJ.

1949/5/14 Riders In The Sky (A Cowboy Legend) -Vaughn Monroe & his Orchestra, vocal by Vaughn Monroe and the Quartet – 12 weeks DJ; 11 weeks BS; 10 weeks JB.

1950/3/25 If I Knew You Were Comin’ I’d’ve Baked A Cake – Eileen Barton with the New Yorkers – 10 weeks DJ; 3 weeks JB; 2 weeks BS. Occasionally, my mother would sing this chorus.

1950/4/29 The Third Man Theme – Anton Karas – 11 weeks BS.

1950/5/6 The Third Man Theme – Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians, guitar solo by Don Rodney – 11 weeks JB.

1950/8/13 Goodnight Irene – Gordon Jenkins & his Orchestra and The Weavers – 13 weeks BS; 12 weeks JB; 8 weeks JB. This song was in my father’s folk repertoire. Sometimes he’d sing it in my classroom, causing idle speculation that I had a crush on a girl in class.

1950/12/16 Tennessee Waltz -Patti Page, orchestra conducted by Jack Rael – 13 weeks JB; 9 weeks BS; 8 weeks DJ.

1951/9/8 Because Of You – Tony Bennett, orchestra conducted by Percy Faith – 10 weeks JB; 8 weeks BS; 8 weeks DJ. His voice has changed a LOT over the years.

1951/12/29 Cry – Johnnie Ray, with The Four Lads – 11 weeks BS; 10 weeks DJ; 9 weeks JB. I only really know Johnnie Ray from references in other songs.

1952/3/15 Wheel Of Fortune – Kay Starr, orchestra conducted by Harold Mooney – 10 weeks JB; 9 weeks BS; 9 weeks DJ.

1952/9/13 You Belong To Me – Jo Stafford, orchestra conducted by Paul Weston – 12 weeks DJ; 5 weeks BS; 2 weeks JB. I remember this song surprisingly well.

1952/9/27 I Went To Your Wedding – Patti Page, orchestra conducted by Jack Rael – 10 weeks JB; 5 weeks BS; 2 weeks JB.

1953/5/16 The Song From Moulin Rouge (Where Is Your Heart) – Percy Faith & his Orchestra, featuring Felicia Sanders – 10 weeks BS; 9 weeks DJ; 6 weeks JB.

1953/8/8 Vaya Con Dios (May God Be With You) – Les Paul and Mary Ford – 11 weeks BS; 9 weeks JB; 3 weeks DJ.

1954/6/5 Little Things Mean A Lot – Kitty Kallen, orchestra conducted by Jack Pleis – 9 weeks BS; 8 weeks DJ; 7 weeks JB.

1954/8/7 Sh-Boom – The Crew-Cuts, orchestra conducted by David Carroll – 9 weeks DJ; 8 weeks JB; 7 weeks 7 weeks. The pop hits of rock and roll era are on the horizon.

For ABC Wednesday