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January rambling #1: Tower of Terror

50 Years Ago, the Wah-Wah Pedal Was Born

2016: The Movie

First BLOTUS Press Conference, Annotated

FLATUS Dossier Spotlights Russian History of ‘Kompromat’ – Diplomats, politicians and bureaucrats have been embarrassed by leaks of compromising material

The body language of FLATUS, and the 20 best nicknames; are you sorry yet?

FLATUS plan to keep his business is national embarrassment

How Populism Goes Bad

Gun silencers are hard to buy. Donald Trump Jr. and silencer makers want to change that

Regarding Simon & Schuster, Milo Y., and Booksmith

Nazis Celebrate As Ann Coulter Cites White Supremacist Code

The US has been hacking elections for more than a century

Transcript of Face the Nation book panel with Isabel Wilkerson (“The Warmth of Other Suns”; JD Vance (“Hillbilly Elegy”); actor Diane Guerrero (“In the Country We Love”); Amani Al- Khatahthbeh (“Muslim Girl: A Coming of Age”

Full Text Of Obama’s Farewell Address, or you can watch it

President Obama Awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Vice President Biden

ObamaWhiteHouse.gov is the future home of President Obama’s WhiteHouse.gov. This site will be maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration and will serve as an historical archive of Obama Administration content.

Decency Is Not a Dirty Word

This way to the egress

Our brain does not process information, retrieve knowledge or store memories. In short: your brain is not a computer

We don’t need Uber

The Prank of the Face: Unmasking the “Droeshout” Portrait of William Shakespeare

Actors seek posthumous protections after big-screen resurrections

RIP William Christopher; I watched him as Father Mulcahy for 11 seasons on MASH

Lord Snowdon dies aged 86; Anthony Armstrong-Jones was the first “famous” person who I knew shared my birthday of March 7

The Mysterious Virus That Could Cause Obesity

Shelterforce takes an in-depth look at the summer 2016 Sheridan Hollow mosaic project in which 3,000 City School District of Albany art students contributed their talents to help transform a city neighborhood.

Announcing a New Folger Fellowship in Honor of Margaret Hannay

The Waxhaws, on the border between the Carolinas

Arthur answers my questions about pop culture and Arthur, plus writes about his mom, who would have been 100

How Not To Write Like An Archdruid

Disney’s Twilight Zone Tower of Terror has taken its final plunge before it gets a Marvel Studio makeover

They surveyed Americans to see how familiar they were with the ten shows that were nominated for Best Comedy and Drama for the Golden Globes

Richard Thompson and the comic strip CUL DE SAC

Jim Cummings provides the voices for many cartoon characters

Now I Know: Selling a Better Way to Shop and Top Billing and The People That Have No Rights and McRefugees and The Lobster War

Obit: Mr. Oliver Larry Rickard, better known as “Paw Paw” the Clown, age 81, of Rome “Survivors include… a brother-in-law, the late Roger Green.”

Music

2016 Coverville Countdown of the best cover versions, Part I and Part II

Kubo and the Two Strings – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Highlights from “Bring It On: The Musical”

To Russia with Love – Matt Monro

If Moby Accepted Trump Inauguration Invitation, This Would Be His Playlist, plus Trump Is on Your Side – Moby and the Homeland Choir

Station to Station – David Bowie

Nat Hentoff, renowned columnist, jazz critic, free speech advocate, died at 91. I used to read him in the Village Voice for about 20 of his 50 years with the paper

Patti Smith Never Wanted to Be Famous (interview)

David Byrne on not being afraid to fail

The Kinks’ Ray Davies receives knighthood in New Year Honours List

50 Years Ago, the Wah-Wah Pedal Was Born in a Hollywood Hills Garage

Vinyl sales in UK reach highest level in last 25 years – with more than 3.2 MILLION LPs sold last year

A Fancy Guitar to Sell, but Hard to Play in Handcuffs

Why did CNN air a documentary about the band Chicago produced by band members?

Random notes from Facebook

When another person and I, separately, posted on Facebook from The New Yorker, The News Reshuffled what was clearly a piece of satire, Emotional Obama Tearfully Thanks Trump for Granting Him Citizenship, a few people thought it was unfunny. One, on my feed, said it was a “lie” that I was sharing FOX News garbage, and that the New Yorker is a terrible magazine.

Trying to explain that it was meant as humor did not help. However, when I posted, from the same source, that Obama had paid Mexico $5 million to keep Trump, now THAT was considered funny.
***
I believe:

One should NEVER say, “See what I did there?” As The Daughter rightly notes, it lessens the joke. Let others notice.

A: After releasing his health records to Dr. Oz, Donald Trump is now said to be considering allowing only Tex Baxter and Lois Lane to cover him. Peter Parker, Jimmy Olsen, and “Animal” will form the press photo pool.
B: What about Clark Kent?
A: Too much of a liberal do-gooder. “Truth and justice.” So corrupt!
Me: And Clark would see right through him.
C: I see what you did there! 😀
***
I posted this video on Facebook, Are Cracker, White Trash, & Redneck Racist? from Decoded on MTV News, which led to a very long conversation about white privilege, which Francesca Ramsey mentioned only in passing. Conversations about white privilege are ALWAYS lengthy.

I appreciated input from Michael Rivest and others on this, but I shan’t relitigate it here.

It’s a good thing I didn’t post the White Fragility Workplace Training.
***
Keith Olbermann took on DJT in GQ, which Arthur linked to. In a Facebook discussion, someone wrote of Olbermann: “He is a paid character assassin. He’s rehashing the same accusations made against Trump. since the beginning of his campaign.”

To which someone else noted: “I will refrain from insulting you personally. But as Roger [me] said, you only have to listen to what comes out of Trump’s mouth. And because he is featured on almost every news and talk show 24/7, I have heard him actually say most of the things Olbermann attributed to him. In other cases, I have read the accounts of people that have had to deal with him. I even know a couple of people personally who have had to try and get paid for the work they did for him. So this is not a ‘choice’ I have to make about believing Olbermann or not. It is the sad reality of Donald Trump. It’s hard to imagine that one guy running for President can be such an ass clown, but then Mr. Trump is no ordinary guy.”
***
A local reporter posted on Facebook: “the #518 is getting a new area code. Like or dislike…”

Wow, the dislike was STRONG. “I dislike this change. Life is more complicated when there are more numbers to use.” Which is true; one will have to dial 518, even within the 518, which I have to do at work presently. But people won’t have to get new phone numbers; the new area code, which has not yet been determined, will be for new calls. Expect it in October.

Someone asked if we’d get 666. I wrote: Here’s the current list. 666 IS available, but don’t count on it!

One person would have preferred they divided 518 geographically, as they did with 914, leaving only Westchester County, just north of Albany, as 914 and creating a new area code 845 in the rest of the area. “An overlay means if I get a new neighbor, I may need to dial 10 numbers to call her. An overlay is easier for them, not us. Another example of not putting people first.”

Not necessarily. The change was a pain for all those counties in the Mid Hudson section of New York who had to change ads, make new business cards, repaint signs. Not to mention all the folks interacting with those people, businesses, colleges, governments, et al.

“This area could have kept 518 in the Capital District.”

Probably not. The plan that was rejected “would have meant giving residents of both Albany and Troy, as well as towns south of them, a brand new area code and phone numbers to learn.”

But my favorite comment was “Don’t they have anything better to do?” Actually, making sure we have enough phone exchanges IS what THEY do.

Music and communication

I do have affection for Chester A. Arthur.

More Ask Roger Anything questions from Chris:

How do you explain to your daughter how to vet sources?

It must be from an example. Just recently, my daughter said, of a tabloid cover in the supermarket, “Cher isn’t really dying, is she?” We watch a couple of news networks, plus Comedy Central, not every day, but often enough, so she can clearly see that shows often offer different emphases.

In your opinion, is Wikipedia a reliable source?

Depends on the topic, and the compiler. There’s an old cliche about a newspaper providing perfect information for topics I know nothing about, but less so for things with which I am familiar. I recently linked to the Wikipedia for the band Blotto, and I noticed that it NEVER mentioned the band members’ actual names. This was a failing.

Some posts are frozen in amber, perfectly accurate as of November 2013, e.g., but not so much today. Whereas other posts are updated regularly to reflect new music released or films made. Deaths are often, but not always, caught.

I specifically remember that back in 2004 or 2005, I corrected a mention that the next Presidential election would be in 2007, when, of course, it was 2008.

Still, when I’m doing research for a topic about which I know nothing, Wikipedia can be very useful, ESPECIALLY the links to the various footnotes.

What’s one area of scientific research that you think we should be funding more (other than medicine and climate change)?

Well, climate change is huge and would include the potential for everything from island nations flooding to the future loss of the maple syrup industry from the continental United States. Once you’ve eliminated climate change and medicine, what I think you have left is space exploration. It has very often answered many questions for answers here on earth, including those two topics.

What’s been the most surprising world change in your lifetime?

Communication, for good and for ill. You make friends on Facebook with people around the world, you have fights with total strangers on Facebook, often about really stupid stuff. You text your friends, while you ignore those physically around you.

I’ve been the guy reading the newspaper, maybe only a dozen years ago, and someone, as often as not, would comment on a story, or maybe just quietly read over my shoulder. Or I’d read over someone else’s shoulder. Those electronic devices don’t seem to open one up to one’s immediate environment, even as one can learn about the most recent terrorism in Turkey.

The Internet allows for more information, but also misinformation, disinformation, satire, lies. We can see Arab Spring or police misconduct, but also LOL cats and Stare-down Sammy, which got 34 million views on Facebook, and was shown on the CBS morning news; I thought it was a waste of air time.

There have been conspiracy theories for a long time, but they can propagate far more freely these days. Even objective facts will be disputed, and as a person dealing with, ideally, objective information, this can be both frustrating and exhausting. (See also my answer about Google.)

I’ve actually had this conversation about an article someone read. (I’m a librarian; a variation of this happens a LOT.)

Her: Is it true?
Me: Where did the information come from?
Her: Facebook!
Me: But what was the ORIGINAL SOURCE of the information?
Her: I TOLD you, Facebook!

Who is your favorite president and why?

Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was rich and rather pompous and arrogant. His ailment thought to be polio at the time, but now believed to be Guillain-Barre syndrome, humbled him, and made him a champion for those less well off. And he had a great partner in Eleanor, with whom he seemed to have achieved an understanding regarding his infidelity.

He was imperfect, the Japanese internment being chief among his failures. But he initiated a lot of useful programs, some of which are around today, such as Social Security and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

I do, though, have affection for Chester A. Arthur, a product of the spoils system who became a reformer for civil service.

Tom the Mayor queried:

What is your Favorite Beatles song?

The last time I made a list, it was 3. Help 2 Got To Get You Into My Life 1 Tomorrow Never Knows. Re: TNK, I recently saw Paul, Ringo, and Georges Harrison and Martin discuss its intricacies. But Help! is something I can sing with my daughter.

What is your Favorite Aretha Franklin Song?

The last time I made a list, it was 4. (Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You’ve Been Gone 3. (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman 2. Sweet Bitter Love (1966). 1. Respect
Of course, Respect is a great cover. Since You’ve Been Gone has always been a favorite because it stifled deejays. But Sweet Bitter Love was in a quartet (or more) of songs that I played when romance went south.

What is your Favorite Joni Mitchell song?

The last time I made a list, it was 2. A Case of You 1. River. River reminds me of my late friend Donna George. But the poetry of A Case of You touches me too.

May rambling #2: Blind In Your Mind

Since when did Christianity become more about preaching the rules than preaching the Gospel of mercy?

A sad case of Facebook blackmail.

“Dude, enough with the entitlement.” She doesn’t owe you @#$!”.

Women are getting harassed in bathrooms because of anti-transgender hysteria. Plus Utah man attacked for taking his 5-year-old daughter into Walmart men’s bathroom. I have taken my then-5 y.o. daughter to a Wal-Mart men’s bathroom, in North Carolina, without incident.

Obituary of a Homophobic Racist, or, My Grandfather.

Killing Dylann Roof. “A year after Obama saluted the families for their spirit of forgiveness, his administration seeks the death penalty for the Charleston shooter.”

Why should schools move away from suspensions?

Poor People Deserve To Taste Something Other Than Shame.

The Election Is About the Country, Not the Candidates

Cartoon: Cut from commencement speeches.

The End Of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 Campaign.

What third parties CAN do.

John Oliver: Primaries and Caucuses.

R.I.P. Pinius Bergmann (1925-2016).

Aphantasia: How It Feels To Be Blind In Your Mind.

Book review: Stardancer by Kelly Sedinger.

Alicia: As I’m leaving the library today, I walked by a pile of new books and literally said out loud to myself, “No, I already have enough at home to read right now.”
Roger: The question: What did the books say in response?
Alicia: It was more of a quiet weeping.

On the heartbreaking difficulty of getting rid of books.

Neither Rand nor McNally. Death by GPS.

This month in 1856: Violence on the U.S. Senate floor.

Three-minute video about the Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region, produced by the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.

The Trouble with Comics: the epic Question Time survey of the best current comics titles.

Now I Know: Combat Juggling and The Land Down Under in the Land Down Under and And Together They’ll Make Music.

True Facts About The Owl.

Sodium.

TELEVISION

60 Minutes, the Sunday night news staple, honored Morley Safer, one of television’s most celebrated journalists. Then, days later, Safer died at 84. From the New York Times: “Mr. Safer had broadcast 919 “60 Minutes” reports, profiling international heroes and villains, exposing scams and corruption, giving voice to whistle-blowers and chronicling the trends of an ever-changing America.”

Alan Young, RIP, star of Duck Tales, and, of course, Mr. Ed. But, of course, of course, some are unhip to the lingo.

Beth Howland, Accident-Prone Waitress Vera From the Sitcom ‘Alice,’ Dies at 74, on New Years’ Eve 2015. Her husband was the actor Charles Kimbrough, who played the anchorman Jim Dial on the television series ‘Murphy Brown.’

Muppets TV show, RIP.

David Letterman – Behind The Scenes Of Late Night’s Longest Running Broadcaster and Leaving Letterman, Part I.

The closing of Johnny Carson’s last Tonight Show.

I disagree broadly, but as for these three: Celebrities Should Not Play Jeopardy. Plus Buzzy Cohen Might Be The Most Polarizing ‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Yet.

MUSIC

What Kind of Fool Am I? – Kermit the Frog. And Grover.

CREAM – The Last Goodbye (1968).

Coverville 1126: Bob Dylan Cover Story VII.

Debunking Every Excuse For Keeping The Monkees Out Of The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, plus a positive review of their NEW album. Here’s Me & Magdalena, which was written for the band by Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard.

First Listen: Paul Simon, ‘Stranger To Stranger’, due out June 3.

The fight over Prince’s estate will dig deep into copyright law for a very long time.

Lady Gaga and the Online Eucharist Police. Since when did Christianity become more about preaching the rules than preaching the Gospel of mercy?

Not getting to Facebook

A couple of weeks ago, on my home computer, I started seeing the first image below, that I might have malware on my computer. Frankly, I was afraid THIS WARNING might be some invasive product, but then I came across Facebook Integrates Trend Micro’s HouseCall to Fight Online Threats, from May 20, 2014.

Then there was this from Facebook itself:

When logging in from the infected device, you’ll see a notification screen about a malware infection, along with a recommendation to use F-Secure’s malware scanning and cleanup technology or HouseCall from Trend Micro. Each product contains distinct malware signatures and is suited to different kinds of threats, so we recommend trying the suggested product even if you already have an anti-virus or similar program running on your machine.

You won’t have to worry about maintenance; these versions are up-to-date and will remove themselves once they’re done running.

You can choose to skip the malware removal process and decline to download the recommended scanner. If you skip removing the malware, you may be prompted again later.

You’ll download and run the scanner, during which time you can continue to use Facebook and other services. When the scan is complete, you’ll receive a notification through Facebook and you’ll be able to review the results of the scan.

So, crossing my fingers, I attempted to download the F-Secure product. Well, it was in the download mode ALL DAY LONG. And no, I could NOT log into Facebook on that computer.

Finally, I got the option to download HouseCall. Three minutes later, I got the notification that it wanted to run. Resigned to the process, I tried it. And at some point, over an hour later, I got the notice that the malware file BREX_SAL_RANK was removed, and I was back to normal.

But what IS it? No one seems to know. One person with the same experience wrote: “I Googled for it, and the only references to it were from other puzzled Facebook customers who also wondered what the Hell it was. What it was is a false positive that doesn’t exist… Well, Trend Micro had to find something didn’t it?”

Wotta pain!

Meanwhile

Earlier in the month, I was also having trouble with Facebook at work. I could get there, but I couldn’t post anything original there. I could post on other people’s timelines UNLESS I were posting a link (URL).

I called the tech support guy at work, who, magically, if I cede it, can take over control of my computer. He found five bits of software that were add ons. I deleted three – one I forget, one was Pinterest, and one changed Donald Trump’s name to Donald Drumpf; none I had loaded in the previous 30 days.

The problem went away for a few hours, then returned the next day. But after rebooting my computer, the issues disappeared for good.

I never had any problem with Facebook with my Kindle Fire.

(Oh, and why, you may ask, are all the graphics below? Because when I attempted to integrate them in the text, they lay over the text. )

The takeaway

There were LOTS of messages for which I got email notifications but could not open. Perhaps 70% were deleted, unread. I got a WHOLE lot more judicious when being on the platform. A friend recently declared: “I swear this is almost as much of a life killer as television.” In other words, Less Facebook, more face time.

***

Trend Micro HouseCall

To clean your computer, you’ll need to download and run this free scanner, Trend Micro HouseCall. This will check for and try to remove malware.

By clicking Download, you agree to the Trend Micro HouseCall Terms.

Malware Removal

Downloadselected
Scan and Clean
Finish

Trend Micro HouseCall is now checking your computer and trying to remove any malware that’s found.

You can log into Facebook and the scan will continue working. We’ll send you a Facebook notification when the scan is finished.

		It looks like your computer is being affected by malware. We’ll help you fix the problem to keep your account secure and prevent malware from spreading to friends.
		Malware is software that tries to steal personal information and causes problems when you use Facebook. Clicking or sharing links that contain spam can give your computer malware.