ABC Wednesday Archives - Page 76 of 91

Z is for Zorro

My recollection of the series is a bit sketchy, but that theme was seared into my brain.

Zorro, which means, “the fox”, is a character, created nearly a century ago by writer Johnston McCulley, who “fought injustice in Spanish California’s Pueblo de Los Angeles.” There have been several iterations of the character, in literature, in film, and on television, as you can read here.

From Wikipedia: “Zorro…is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega…a nobleman and master…The character has undergone changes through the years, but the typical image of him is a dashing black-clad masked outlaw who defends the people of the land against tyrannical officials and other villains. Not only is he much too cunning and foxlike for the bumbling authorities to catch, but he delights in publicly humiliating those same foes.”

It occurred to me that Zorro was a progenitor of those millionaire playboy fop/dark costumed avengers, complete with a secret cave, and a trustworthy butler.

As far as I can recall, though, the only iteration that I’ve actually seen is the TV version from the 1950s, and perhaps the comic book tie-ins from Dell/Gold Key. And I probably wasn’t watching it in its original broadcast, but rather one of those endless Disney reruns.

There is a great website about the 1957-1959 version of Zorro, maintained by Bill Cotter, author of The Wonderful World of Disney Television.

I’m most fascinated by the star of that series, Guy Williams. I was familiar with him best as the father/commander John Robinson on the 1965-1968 TV show, Lost in Space. Like many actors in that era, especially those with particularly “ethnic” names, he changed his to something more Anglo. He was born Armand Joseph Catalano in 1924.

“To play Zorro…, the chosen actor would have to be handsome and have some experience with fencing. Walt Disney himself interviewed Guy Williams, telling him (comically) to start growing a mustache ‘neither very long or thick’ (i.e. somewhat like Disney’s own mustache). The exclusive contract paid Williams the then very high wage of $2,500 per week, as he had demanded.” To prepare, Williams took both fencing and guitar lessons… “The [hit] show spanned 78 episodes over two seasons (1957–1959) and two movies edited from TV episodes – The Sign of Zorro (1958) and Zorro the Avenger (1959) – with its theme-song (composed by Norman Foster and George Bruns) reaching #17 of the Hit Parade, performed by The Mellomen.

My recollection of the series is a bit sketchy, but that theme was seared into my brain.

ABC Wednesday – Round 9

X is for X-Ray Vision

X-ray vision is a bit of a misnomer.

The X-ray was discovered a little over a century ago. Getting an X-ray is something we take as commonplace at the dentist’s office or at a medical lab, but it was the quite amazing, and accidental, discovery. And it has helped produce some pretty nifty art effects such as The X-Ray Vision of Nick Veasey, from which this image was taken.

But that’s not what I really want to talk about.

I’m more interested in the notion of “X-ray vision”. As the Wikipedia entry explains, it’s a bit of a misnomer: “Although called X-ray vision, this power has little to do with the actual effect of X-rays. Instead, it is usually presented as the ability to selectively see through certain objects as though they are invisible, translucent or not present, in order to see objects or surfaces beyond or deep to the affected object or material.” This is NOT the way actual X-rays work: “The visions seen [in X-ray vision] are generally in full color and three-dimensional. How such an effect might be created via x-rays is unexplained (the x-rays from the viewer’s eyes would need to bounce back to his eyes the same way as normal light reflects off objects and into the viewer’s eyes: x-rays simply pass through an object and continue on their way.”

The fascination with X-ray vision, in “science fiction stories or superhero comics” has embedded itself in the minds of the public so thoroughly that a Google search will glean thousands of examples. Mark Evanier points to x-ray glasses and other mail-order mysteries from the stuff you order from comic book ads and the like, which is lots of fun. But it’s not just a ruse from the olden days. On YouTube, you will find Tiny Filter Gives Cellphone Cameras X-Ray Vision. Well, no. There is another technology at work whereby one can see Kim Kardashian’s underwear, but X-ray vision it is not. Ditto this Little Dot cover.

Of course, the best-known character with X-ray vision is the Man of Steel, as noted in comic books, TV show,s and on film. “Superman can see through walls to see the bad guys beyond, or see-through Lois Lane’s dress to determine the colour of her underwear (in Superman: The Movie, Warner Brothers, 1978).” Superman’s cousin, Supergirl is similarly blessed, or cursed, with this ability, evidently.

I suppose I too have fantasized about having that power and ability far beyond that of mortal man. But I would only use the power for good, not anything inappropriate. Or so I tell myself.

What superhero power would YOU want to have?

ABC Wednesday team

W is for Weird Weather

There are simpler things to do, though, such as planting a tree and taking less energy dependent transportation.

People in the US state of Oklahoma have had a tough year. The state’s “July average temperature was a scorching 88.9 degrees, the warmest to occur in any state during any month on record. State record hailstone measuring nearly 6” from Gotebo on May 23… At the other extreme, Oklahoma recorded its coldest temperature on record on February 10 when Nowata dipped to a frigid -31 degrees. On that same the day, the state’s heaviest 24-hour snowfall on record piled up, with 27 inches measured in Spavinaw. Not to mention non-weather related events, such as the 5.6 magnitude earthquake, the strongest on record.

The Sooner State is hardly the only one. Back in the spring, there were already more weather-related fatalities in the US than in all of 2010. By the halfway point, NOAA had made it official: 2011 Among Most Extreme Weather Years in History. “Near the halfway point, 2011 has already seen eight weather-related disasters in the U.S. that caused more than $1 billion in damages.”

Then August 2011 set records in several locations for “torrid heat, torrential rain, and river flooding. You can thank, in part, an exceptional Plains drought and Hurricane Irene,” another billion-dollar event.

Of course, the question is why. A recent study linked air pollution to extreme weather. California is a leader in places where sometimes the air isn’t fit to breathe.

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has urged countries to come up with disaster management plans to “adapt to the growing risk of extreme weather events linked to human-induced climate change.” See the report here. And the deniers are in full force.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. We CAN minimize the damage by making changes. Valmeyer, Illinois “was once a community of about 900 on the banks of the Mississippi River, 25 miles south of St. Louis. The Great Flood of 1993 left 90 percent of Valmeyer’s buildings damaged beyond repair…Valmeyer would be rebuilt on a 500-acre parcel on a nearby bluff overlooking the river…with energy-efficient home construction…resource-efficient institutions and…future renewable energy development. When the Mississippi flooded again, the town was safe, though it would not have been had they rebuilt in the same location.

There are simpler things to do, though, such as planting a tree and taking less energy-dependent transportation. Meanwhile, check out NOAA’s State of the Climate, a Global Analysis. Interesting stuff.

ABC Wednesday – Round 9

V is for Vice-Presidents

What of the VPs who never became President?

The United States has had 43 men who have served as President, but 47 who have served as Vice-President.

The first two Vice-Presidents became the second (Adams) and third (Jefferson) Presidents. Those elections, in 1796, when Adams was stuck with a VP of another party, and in 1800, when Jefferson and Aaron Burr had the same number of electoral votes, led to the passage of the 12th Amendment to the Constitution (1804), after which electors voted separately for President and Vice-President, rather than casting two votes for President, superseding a portion of Article II, section 1 of the Constitution.

13 men who were Vice-President became President,

including four after a President was assassinated, and four after a President died of natural causes.

As a result, some Presidents had no Vice-President for all or part of their time of service. This was rectified by the passage of 25th Amendment (1967) which established a procedure for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, among other issues. This got utilized a few times in the decade after its passage.
Richard Nixon was re-elected President in 1972. His VP, Spiro Agnew resigned over improprieties in 1973, and Congress confirmed Gerald Ford as VP. Then Ford became President in 1974 as a result of Nixon’s resignation over Watergate. Congress then confirmed Nelson Rockefeller to be Ford’s VP.

What of the VPs who never became President? The first of these, Burr, is probably best known for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel. George Clinton and John C. Calhoun served under two different Presidents. Elbridge Gerry’s behavior in the state of Massachusetts helped create the word gerrymander.

But mostly Veeps are known for the disparaging things they themselves have said about their office, such as these; the John Nance Garner, usually cleaned up to use the word ‘spit’, is the most infamous. It is generally agreed, though, that the VPs in the latter part of the 20th Century and beyond have had far more responsibilities than their predecessors.

Someone came up with a BINGO game so that one could learn the Veeps. I should print this out; I must admit that some of those late 19th-century dudes escape my memory.

ABC Wednesday – Round 9

T is for Tipos Typos

Some mornings, I reread my blog and only then do I see my egregious error.

In one of my favorite websites, Regret the Error, there is a lengthy column about how copy-editing errors take place, in this case, the Washington Post, and what to do about it. One quote from the Post: “Mistakes occur more frequently online than in print, generally, because online copy goes through fewer editors…But online errors are easier and faster to correct.”

I am a rather good speller. I remember that I was so proud to get 100 in my 5th-grade spelling final. Though I was no good at spelling bees; I need to write it down in order to ascertain that it looks wrong. But spellcheck has made me lazy. Add to that the fact that I’m a lousy typist and one will discover typos in this blog.

This used to pain me greatly, and still bugs me. Some mornings, I reread my blog, and only then do I see my egregious error. Generally, it’s a word that is a homonym. I DO know the difference between here and here, I really do. Or I’m distracted and leave off a repeated letter or series of letters, such as Missippi for Mississippi.

There are words I tend to check, such as words ending in ible and able, or ance and ence. I remember a rare time watching a show called Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader, and I recall that the ‘1st-grade word’ was allegiance; does it have 2 or 3 Es? Having a second-grader, I don’t think it’s a first-grade word at all.

Some words I have tricks for spelling. For instance, facetious I know has the five vowels, in order (and six, if one adds the -ly). Still, I pronounce it wrong in my mind: FACE tee us, rather than fah SEE shus.

There are some bloggers who are generally good spellers. I tend to send e-mails to people I believe who know the difference but just made a mistake. One blogger who I follow wrote warp in a place that didn’t make sense. I mentioned another error in the sentence; then he changed warp to wrap. I then suggested warm, and he realized THAT was the correct word.

Whereas some folks that just don’t know the difference between its and it’s, despite the previous correction, I tend not to bother; noting this would just be harassment. I used to correct because I figured people might think that they were less well informed; now I recognize, in a world of C U L8R texts, that may not necessarily be the case.

In any case, I really like these proofreading tips from the New York Times. Among the points: Use spelling checkers but don’t trust them. In particular, be aware of homophone confusion: complement and compliment, accept and except, effect and affect, oversees and overseas. Rather like what I’ve experienced.

Incidentally, even the typo watchdogs can make mistakes.

ABC Wednesday – Round 9